Sales Start on Smallest Tobacco Crop in Decades

Source from:  By Walt Reichert/Sentinel-News Associate Editor 11/17/2005

At tobacco receiving stations Monday, farmers started getting checks for the smallest burley crop in almost 80 years. This is the first crop grown in almost as long without the safety net of the tobacco price-support program. Prices averaged $1.55-$1.58 at the receiving station in Carrollton, with some tobacco averaging $1.60. "Of course, that was the very best quality tobacco," said Shelby County farmer John Rothenburger. About 80 percent of the tobacco grown in Shelby County is sent to the tobacco receiving station in Carrollton, Rothenburger said, with the rest going to Lexington or Lebanon. The Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service (KASS) is forecasting this year's burley tobacco crop at 135 million pounds -- down 35 percent from last year's crop. A 31,000-acre drop in the number of acres harvested coupled with a drop in average per-acre yield is responsible for the smaller crop. While the tobacco harvest was down, yields on grain crops were better than expected given this summer's drought. Kentucky's corn farmers were expected to pick 152 million bushels, down 12 percent from the record crop of last year. Yield-per-acre was down 21 bushels from the record-yield 2004 crop. Soybean growers were expected to bring in 52.5 million bushels, down 8 percent from the 2004 soybean crop, which also set a record. Enditem