US Tobacco——Late Planting But Prospects Still Good

Source from:  Tobacco Asia  08/29/2014

As June ended, the two major tobacco types in the United States had been planted, with perhaps a struggling farm or two in the northern tobacco states.

The most notable characteristic of this type was its lateness. In Georgia, at the southern end of the tobacco belt, farmers reported it was the latest crop they'd ever had, thanks mainly to cold temperatures in April.

"Most of our crop got set out at the very end of April," said Fred Wetherington, a grower in Hahira in south part of the state. "In Georgia, you don't [typically] set out tobacco so late. We're done by mid-April normally, at the latest. I'm real nervous."

The Georgia-Florida crop started out about two weeks behind in both states but by mid June had caught up considerably. Extension tobacco specialist J. Michael Moore expected harvest to begin around July 1. He estimated that 15,000 acres (6,070 ha.) were planted in Georgia and 1,500 acres were planted in Florida.

Any damage from a late crop could largely dissipate if the weather cooperates from here on. A bigger threat had occurred earlier when the cold winter affected the growth of plants in the greenhouses. There was much fear that not enough plants to meet the needs of farmers. But as of the end of June, there were few reports of acres unplanted because of lack of plants.

There was definitely a shortage of plants in Georgia and Florida. "We saw quite a scramble at the end," says Moore. "All ours [produced in Georgia and Florida] were set, and the last plants that went in were from North Carolina. But I think nearly everybody was able to plant the acres they wanted to."

In the N.C. Piedmont, Dennis White, owner of the Old Belt Tobacco Sales auction warehouse in Rural Hall, N.C., near Winston-Salem, said on June 17, "There weren't many plants to spare but everyone was able to plant the acres they wanted."

"At one time, we were afraid we would fall 10-15% short of having the plants we needed in N.C.," said Graham Boyd, executive vice president of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C. "But as best I can tell, most acres that farmers intended to plant were planted."

When it became clear that the initial seeding of plants was not going to be enough to meet the demand, some growers seeded their greenhouses a second time after the first seeding was set out.

"We have much more 'late-seeded' tobacco in 2014 than we have ever had," he said.  "That brings a few risks. It is very likely that late-seeded plants went into hot soils. You would expect to take the risk of sacrificing some yield with tobacco planted late in hot soils."

Again, favorable weather down the road would likely mitigate this problem.

In the burley states, the plant shortage never materialized at all in Kentucky, despite much apprehension. "Even now [late June], from what I am hearing, you can still find plants available if you need them," says Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. But not many do—85% or perhaps 90 percent of the state's burley had been seeded already.

The Kentucky crop has gotten off to a good start, he said, but because of cloudy days, there was some early blooming.

Planting was complete in western N.C. in mid June. "I don't know anyone who is not done planting," said the auction warehouse owner White.

To the west, in the N.C. Coastal Plain, harvest of lugs was expected to begin around the first of July, said Roy Thagard, Extension agent in Greene County, N.C., between Raleigh and the Atlantic Coast. "Tobacco growers began topping and sucker control last week, and will continue this week,"he said on June 23.

Kyle Daniel, an Extension tobacco agent in Georgetown County, S.C., in the coastal plain, said the area had missed out on recent general rains. "Conditions here are hot, dry and worrisome. Tobacco is suffering really bad."

In the Virginia Piedmont, tobacco fields got a little rain, but conditions are still dry,  said Lindy Tucker, Extension agent in Lunenburg County, Va,, southwest of Richmond. "Our earliest tobacco started heading out too short, but overall, tobacco looks good."

In Robertson County, north of Nashville, Tn., growers were setting and in some cases cultivating their tobacco, said Paul Hart, Extension agent. "Angular leaf spot and sunscald were seen on tobacco, primarily because of wet conditions."

--Some farmers are getting serious about the problem of black shank by extending the number of seasons that separate plantings of tobacco in any given field.

This is desirable because black shank organism attacks only tobacco and rotation to some other crop for as long as possible in effect starves the organism and reduces the level of infection the next time tobacco is grown.

A good example is Bennie Lee, flue-cured grower of Sanford, N.C. "We have been trying to do a better job of rotation in recent years. Our goal is a three-year rotation. We haven't completely achieved that yet."

The sequence is soybeans to grain sorghum to tobacco. Grain sorghum is a relatively new option because of technological advances. Grain sorghum performs in a non-irrigated production program.

"We like grain sorghum over corn because we can make a better crop [without irrigation]. Also, we put the grain sorghum between the soybeans and tobacco. That way we don't get the nitrogen problems you sometimes get when tobacco follows soybeans [which is leguminous]."

Now Produced in USA ——Liquid Nicotine!

The issue of e-cigarettes was brought a little closer to home for U.S. tobacco growers when it was announced in May that liquid nicotine is being extracted from American leaf on a commercial scale at a factory in Albany, Ga.

The factory belongs to USA Liquid Nicotine, whose buying and marketing offices are in Harrisburg, Ky.

Managing partner Brian Furnish, a farmer who served several years as general manager of Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association in Lexington, Ky., says his company, USA Liquid Nicotine, is selling pure liquid nicotine extracted from burley leaf acquired in Kentucky.

So far, Furnish says USA-LN is using only used air-cured leaf, mainly burley, because its nicotine content is higher than that of flue-cured and other types.

Individual leaves are stripped from cured stalks and collected for the extraction process. Eventually, a production scheme will be worked out for e-cig tobacco. It will likely involve changes in variety choice, fertility programs and timing of topping and suckering, Furnish said. Enditem