For burley tobacco farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee, forecasts for a close-to-average yield are coming as a big relief after sweating through prospects of a paltry harvest as extreme heat and a dry spell stunted the crop's growth for much of the season.
Piles of recently cut burley tobacco sit on a trailer on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, on a farm near Finchville, Ky. For burley tobacco farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee, an average crop being forecast is a big relief. A few weeks ago, the crop was on the brink of ruin from extreme heat and drought. Now, tobacco specialists say much of the burley has gone through a growth spurt, thanks to recent rains. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner) Tobacco showed its toughness after timely rains spurred a late-season spurt for much of the crop. In a matter of weeks, some knee-high burley sprouted to shoulder length. The added weight of the tobacco leaves figures to help fatten paychecks for farmers at markets that open late in the year.
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Farmers are just starting to harvest the burley crop, which is used in cigarettes. It's a turnaround that never materialized for much of Kentucky's corn crop, which was irreparably damaged by hot, dry weather.
"In July when it was 106 degrees, I was really wondering if we would harvest half of this tobacco," farmer Doug Langley said Thursday while his farmhands stacked long sticks of green-leafed burley in a barn near the rural Kentucky town of Finchville in Shelby County.
"And then we got some rains. ... The old timers say just don't give up on a tobacco crop. It'll grow out. And they were exactly right. Just take care of the crop, do the best you can with it and it paid off this year."
Now, Langley is hoping to squeeze a profit from his burley, unlike his corn crop, which he calls his worst ever. Langley, who farms in Shelby, Henry and Spencer counties, predicted half his 3,500-acre corn crop won't produce 50 bushels an acre, which amounts to one-third of his usual corn yield.
Kentucky is the nation's top burley producer. The state's average yield could come in around 2,000 pounds per acre, just below the yearly average, said University of Kentucky tobacco specialist Bob Pearce.
Carol Hinton, the agricultural extension agent in Breckinridge County, said much of the burley was revived by timely rains. She predicted yields slightly above average in the western Kentucky county.
"The condition of the crop is better than we expected," she said. "Not like the corn crop."
Corn farmers there are bracing for paltry yields that could drop the countywide average to 25 bushels an acre or lower when factoring in fields that were a total loss, Hinton said.
Paul Denton, a tobacco specialist with UK and the University of Tennessee, said the Tennessee crop might be in slightly better shape than in Kentucky. But he said recent flash flooding in the Johnson City area could hurt some of the northeastern Tennessee crop.
But across wide swaths of both states, a burley crop that once seemed on the brink of ruin now could turn out average, Denton said.
"It's not something you usually see headlines about, but it looked like a disaster four weeks ago," he said.
The market outlook for the crop also could be on the upswing.
Worldwide burley production is down and U.S. burley exports are up this year in response to a better 2011 crop and limited world supplies, said UK agricultural economist Will Snell.
With a decent curing season, this year's burley crop could fetch prices averaging in the low- to mid-$1.80s per pound range, compared to $1.75 per pound a year ago, Snell said.
Burley is mostly grown under production contracts between farmers and tobacco companies. Those agreements allow buyers to reject leaf that doesn't meet quality specifications.
Meanwhile, yields will likely be down slightly for dark tobacco grown in western Kentucky, said Andy Bailey, a dark tobacco extension specialist for UK and UT. That region was hardest hit by the summer dry spell, but irrigation kept much of the dark tobacco going, he said.
Tennessee's dark tobacco crop has fared better, due to more rainfall, he said.
The crop is used for smokeless tobacco products.
Last month, government forecasters said Kentucky farmers planted an estimated 71,000 acres of burley tobacco, up 7,000 acres from 2011. U.S. tobacco production has fallen sharply since the 2004 tobacco buyout, which ushered in a free-market system to replace a Depression-era price support program.
But for some farmers, tobacco has become an even bigger enterprise since the buyout.
Langley planted 250 acres of burley this year — his biggest crop since getting into farming in 1986. How his crop fared depends on when it went in the ground. The earliest-planted burley struggled most. His mid-season leaf looks good, and the latest-planted burley has potential but needs more rain, he said.
He's predicting an overall burley yield of about 2,000 pounds an acre, off about 500 pounds from his usual average but enough to make a profit.
The quality of his leaf will depend on the curing season. Ideally, the post-harvest curing process slowly changes long green burley tobacco leaves to a dark reddish brown tint desired by buyers.
But a dry curing season can produce a yellowish tint to leaves, which buyers are prone to pick over.
"The curing season is everything for us," Langley said. Enditem
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11.
US: North Carolina Tobacco Crop Bouncing Back from 2011
http://southeastfarmpress.com/tobacco/north-carolina-tobacco-crop-bouncing-back-2011
Aug. 9, 2012
Southeast Farm Press
As harvest got under way, the tobacco crop in eastern North Carolina appeared to have bounced back from the hurricane-induced disaster conditions of 2011.
In Salemburg, N.C, about 70 miles south of Raleigh and on the northern edge of the area damaged by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27 of last year, brothers Sherrill and Clay Strickland were looking at a crop that appeared headed for a very respectable yield.
"We have some good fields and some bad fields, and the intense heat we had in June and July had an effect," said Sherrill Strickland. "But now (July 15), it is looking real good overall. We got good rains a few days ago, and the top is looking very green. The bottom stalk is not much, but our tips are going to turn out really good. This crop should definitely be a better one than last year."
That seemed to be the situation for most flue-cured growers in July.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected on July 11 that flue-cured production in the U.S. this year will reach 432 million pounds, up a whopping 25 percent from 2011.
Planted area for flue-cured is four percent below last year at 199,000 acres. Yield per acre is forecast at 2,173 pounds, up 507 pounds from a year ago.
But expected production was still down in South Carolina and Georgia because of fewer acres planted.
By state, the USDA reported:
? North Carolina's flue-cured was rated in mostly fair to good condition. Production levels recovered from last year's hurricane damage, with yield projected at 2,200 pounds per acre, up 650 pounds from last season. Production is estimated at 338 million pounds, up 36 percent from last season. Many farmers had started to irrigate in mid July as weather was extremely hot in many growing areas.
? Virginia — the only state to see an increase in flue-cured plantings — was progressing well in mid-July with the majority of the crop rated in fair to good condition. Production was estimated at 46.2 million pounds, up nearly three million pounds from last season on 7.7 percent more planted acreage.
? South Carolina production had been affected by unusually cool, wet weather through July which led to some reports of thin and yellowing plants. Projected yield was 1,800 pounds per acre, only 100 pounds more than in the hurricane year. Production was projected at 24.3 million pounds, down nearly eight percent from 2011 on 13 percent less planted acreage.
Georgia crop fair to good
? Georgia plantings were reported mostly in fair to good condition as of July 1. Temperatures for the past month were above normal and rainfall was very spotty. USDA projected that yields would be about the same as last year. Planted acreage is down an estimated 1,400 acres or 11.7 percent, while production is also estimated down 11.7 percent at 23.1 million pounds.
The Florida flue-cured is not included in the USDA production report, but Georgia-Florida Extension Tobacco Specialist J. Michael Moore reported in mid-July that the crop was damaged but not destroyed when Tropical Storm Debby blew through on June 26-27, but there were significant effects from the six to 22 inches of rainfall that fell.
"Roots were suffocated, and plants lacked the ability to take up water, nutrients and oxygen," he said. "Wilted leaves were scalded and burned. Drowning damage was compounded by extreme temperatures and bright sunshine."
Although losses are heavy, a large portion of the Florida crop and a majority of the Georgia crop was not damaged, said Moore.
"But those in the Live Oak, Fla., area will not be so lucky," he said. "There is lots of drowning there, and there will be scalding from the hot sun."
Neither burley or any of the other tobacco types were included in USDA's July 11 production report, but information on plantings had been released in the agency's annual acreage report issued June 29.
The acreage report indicated that a wave of last minute plantings had caused burley acreage to swell over what had earlier been predicted.
Burley plantings are now projected at 96,800 acres, nearly nine percent over last season. Most of the increase came from the two leading burley states, Kentucky and Tennessee, and there was also significant increases in Virginia and Ohio.
? Kentucky's burley acreage projection rose almost 11 percent over 2011 at 71,000 aces.
? Tennessee burley plantings are up seven percent at 15,000 acres.
? Virginia burley is up an impressive 35 percent at 2,700 acres.
? Ohio is up a healthy 12.5 percent at 1,800 acres.
? But North Carolina burley is down 30 percent from last season at 1,600 acres.
? Pennsylvania burley plantings are projected down six percent at 4,700 acres.
? Southern Maryland (Type 31), an air-cured type similar to burley which is produced almost entirely in Pennsylvania, is down three percent at 2,900 acres, while fire-cured is down 6.4 percent at 15,350 acres, dark air-cured is down 16.3 percent at 4,600 acres and cigar types are up 17.2 percent at 5,090 acres.
An outbreak of blue mold in Pennsylvania spread considerably in June in the state's two leading tobacco counties — Lancaster and Chester. Some fields had significant sporulating populations. Most farmers sprayed aggressively.
But new reports of the disease had tailed off by mid-July, and Jeff Graybill, Pennslyvania Extension agronomy educator, said intense summer heat and drought may have halted the spread of the disease.
The damage was worse on burley than on the other types grown in the state — Pennsylvania seedleaf, Southern Maryland and Green River dark air-cured.
There were a few fields where the damage went systemic, he said. Enditem
