The season begins

Watch out for the "carve out," said PMI executive Jon Huenemann at the annual meeting of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C. Just to the right is TGANC president Brent Leggett, who had some words of his own on the carve out (see below).   It was a good two years, said outgoing president of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C. (TGANC) Brent Leggett at the organization's annual meeting February 7 in Raleigh, N.C. Tobacco Farmer Newsletter got to talk to him this week and find out his observations after serving two one-year terms: He was very happy that the past two crops had been characterized by good demand and good prices. "Especially in 2013, with the unique weather, I think farmers responded well in getting a product that met buyer demand, and the buyers rewarded them for it. I am glad of that." He is very concerned by efforts of the attorneys general of the United State to exclude tobacco from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement (the so-called "carve out"). "We have to oppose this in every way we can," says Leggett.  "If they think they can succeed at this, they might try it on any number of federal programs. Or other crops--you can just imagine how crops like peanuts or cotton could be vulnerable to this sort of treatment." He thinks the great imponderable for 2014 will be the effect of the end of the buyout. "This will be the first year in a decade we have produced a crop that will not have the benefit of buyout payment assistance following the season," he says. "How will this dynamic affect the stability of the market moving forward?" For more on the TGANC meeting, see below. The remainder of the Kentucky burley crop should be reaching the market in the next week or 10 days, says Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. "Not much is left," he says. "I was on a farm Monday when stripping there was finished. The rest will be done soon." It would probably all be done already but the extreme cold weather at times had made it hard to get leaf in case.  There is no hurry among Kentucky growers to start heating their greenhouses, especially if they heat with propane, says Pearce. "If the winter continues cold that could become a cost issue," he says. "I anticipate one of our later starts this year." The good price of the burley crop has a lot of growers optimistic about 2014, says Steve Walker, Macon County (Tn.) Extension Director. "Our acreage will be up if contracts are available," he says. Most of the burley in the county, which is north of Nashville and borders Kentucky, has been delivered, he says, but there may be a problem for some farmers who have had to delay stripping because of the cold. "The companies may want to close their stations in mid February (or soon after), and for some growers that could make it close." Macon County has greatly increased burley production since deregulation, and growers have improved their tobacco infrastructure with the addition of new barns, says Walker. "The new barns can house several acres of tobacco, and with sufficient labor, hanging can be a speedy process," he says. "Some of new barns are open sided to allow good air movement."     Run to the mailbox if you are a N.C. flue-cured grower and send in your referendum ballot. Ballots for the North Carolina checkoff referendum should reach growers by mail in the vicinity of March 15, says Leggett. The ballots will ask flue-cured producers if they support a checkoff to fund TGANC. Ten cents per hundredweight is the proposed rate. There is a 90-day voting period. "But don't let it lay on your desk, " says Leggett. "Mark it up and send it back as soon as you get it. You know you are not going to want to be doing any paperwork on June 15!" TGANC presented awards to several individuals and   Hambrick one family at the meeting. They were: Extension award--Tim Hambrick, Forsyth County, N.C., tobacco agent; Outstanding TGANC director--Tim Yarbrough, Caswell County, N.C.; Farm family of the year--the Fann family of Salemburg, N.C., and Distinguished Service--Carl Watson, tobacco research specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture. The challenge of harvesting late: Watson with the N.C. Department of Agriculture, is responsible for growing the  Watson tobacco that is used each year in the tobacco-stringing contest at the N.C. State Fair, and that took some doing in 2013. "We seeded the plots [at the Oxford, N.C., research station] a little late in the greenhouse, maybe a week or two, then planted two and a half weeks later than normal, hoping it would hold till the Fair," Watson said. The fair usually begins around the tenth or eleventh of October, but in 2013, the fair began on the seventeenth, with the contest on the eighteenth. Watson thought he might have to make a very late nitrogen application to keep the tobacco growing. "But it didn't rain when we didn't need it to rain, and we wound up with good over-ripe tobacco when we needed it," he said. It was harvested on October 18, and after the tying contest, it was cured in the historic furnace-and-flues barn in the fair's Village of Yesteryear. For his fair tobacco, Watson used the varieties NC-196 and CC-27. "The Cross Creek variety did a good job of staying in the field." UPCOMING GAP RECERTIFICATION MEETINGS  To learn more about the GAP Connections program please call 865-622-4606 or visit  www.gapconnections.com. All times Eastern except where noted.   KENTUCKY (Burley) March 4, 2014, 11:30 a.m. CT. Clinton County Tobacco Meeting, First Albany Baptist Church. 110 W. Cumberland St., Albany, Ky. Contact: Colby Guffey, (606) 387-5404, colby.guffey@uky.edu. March 6, 6:30 p.m. Grant-Owen County Tobacco Meeting, Jonesville Firehouse, 5070 Jonesville Rd., Jonesville, Ky. Contact: Chris Am merman, (859) 824-3355, chris.ammerman@uky.edu. March 3, 10:30 a.m. CT. Breckinridge County Tobacco Meeting, Breckinridge County Extension Office, 1377 Hwy. 261 S., Hardinsburg, Ky. Contact: Carol Hinton, (270) 756-2182, cmhinton@uky.edu. March 3, 2. There will be two meetings this day in Bardstown, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., for Nelson, Marion, and Washington County growers. Both will take place at the Nelson County Extension Office, 317 S. 3d St., Bardstown, Ky. Contact: Ron Bowman, (502)-348-9204, rbowman@uky.edu. March 19, 6 p.m. (Introduction to Tobacco GAP at 5 p,m,). Mason County Extension Office. 800 U.S. 68, Maysville, Ky. Contact: Tad Campbell, (606) 564-6808 or mcampbel@email.uky.edu. March 20, 6:30 p.m. CT. Barren County Tobacco Meeting, Barren County Extension Office, 1463 West Main St. Glasgow, Ky. Contact: Kristin Goodin, (270) 651-3818, kristin.goodin@uky.edu. March 25, 6 p.m. South East Ky. Tobacco Meeting, Laurel County Extension Office, 200 County Extension Rd., London, Ky. Contact: Glenn Williams (606) 864-4167, victor.williams@uky.edu.  TENNESSEE (Burley) February 27, 8:30. The Residence of Abe Gingerich, 24 Rushing Rd, Ethridge, Tn. Contact: Joe Beeler at jbeeler5@utk.edu. March 13, 7 p.m. Middle Tennessee Research & Education Center, 1000 Main Entrance Dr., Spring Hill, Tn. Contact: Joe Beeler, jbeeler5@utk.edu. March 27, 6 p.m. Grainger County Meeting, Ag Pavilion, 280 Bryan Rd., Rutledge, Tn. Contact: Anthony Carver, 865-828-3411 orbcarver4@utk.edu. KENTUCKY/TENNESSEE (Dark) March 3, 4:30 p.m. Montgomery/Stewart County Tobacco Meeting, Montgomery Ext. Office, Clarksville, Tn. Contact: 931-648-5725. March 5, 1 p.m. Christian County Extension Office, Hopkinsville, Ky. Contact: 270-886-6328. March 7, 1 p.m. McLean County Extension Office, Calhoun, Ky. Contact: (270) 273-3690.   OHIO (Burley) March 10, 4 p.m. Ohio Valley Career and Technical Center, 175 Lloyd Rd., West Union, Ohio. Contact: dugan.46@osu.edu. March 10, 7:30 p.m. Ohio Valley Career and Technical Center, 175 Lloyd Rd., West Union, Ohio. Contact: dugan.46@osu.edu. March 19, 1 p.m. Southern Hills Career Center on Hamer Road, Georgetown, Ohio. Contact: dugan.46@osu.edu. BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse     Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse.   We will hold both sealed bid auctions and live auctions.     We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE     For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.

A MID WINTER TOBACCO REPORT

Farmers check out new machinery at the S.C. AgriBiz Expo,  Florence, S.C., in January.  BURLEY: The weather has been very cold in Kentucky for about a month, says Roger Quarles, Georgetown, Ky., burley farmer. "In some cases, stripping has been slowed by the temperatures. And also some was stripped too wet in late December. But we got ours sold the first week of January." But because of the unusual conditions, Quarles wasn't able to harvest one acre of the 39 he planted. "But I would describe this (overall) crop as very good except where there were devastating floods. Certainly, it sold for one of the highest averages I have experienced." Processing report: The Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association has begun processing its 2013 purchases, and Steve Pratt, general manager of the cooperative, is pleased with what he is seeing. "This was a good-looking crop, with good color," he says. "It's light, and we are finding it hard to get as many pounds into a box as we would like. But it is a better crop than we expected." This crop hasn't performed quite as well in nicotine tests as hoped, says Pratt. "But the results are acceptable." Some of this crop has been sold at auction, and BTGCA has bought some at auction too. "But we are moving to contracting most of our needs," says Pratt. "We are already seeing interest in contracts for 2014." Contracting has barely begun in the burley belt. Pratt expects the marketing season to wind up in early March.

FLUE-CURED: Contracting has not developed much momentum so far, says Rick Smith, president of Independent Leaf. Farmers who want more tobacco are finding it hard to acquire, and new growers are getting no encouragement as yet. "But hopefully everyone who wants a contract will have one at the end," says Smith. He says it is too early to estimate the average price being offered for contracts other than that it started at about the same level as a year ago. One factor holding up contracting: There is an undetermined amount of 2013 flue-cured still "on the shelf"; that is, in the hands of dealers but not yet committed to a manufacturer. "That tobacco will enter the trade sooner or later, but it may have something to do with the slow pace of contracting we are seeing now," says Smith...The crop in Brazil is reportedly short and maybe a little washed out, so Smith doesn't see it as being any more competitive than normal with U.S. flue-cured. "There will be no advantage to dealers to going there," he says...Don't count on a $2.17 average in 2014, Smith tells growers. The low production accounted for much of the strong price in 2013. "The price was a lot higher than it would have been if it had been a big crop," he says. The 2013 crop has been recorded as a high quality crop, and rightfully so, but that tends to overlook the problem it had of low nicotine.  

  

The world still demands quality flue-cured leaf, and that will continue to favor American growers, says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. But he is not sure farmers could take advantage if the market were to seek a big increase in flue-cured plantings. "We produced 550 million pounds in 2009, the most in recent years, and I think we would have a hard time producing more than 600 million pounds now."

Curing capacity a problem everywhere. A major obstacle to increasing flue production would be the limited curing capacity. "To cure any more, we would have to look at buying new barns," says Vann. "All the old ones that were lying around have been pulled back in service if they were useable. The investment required for these new barns is very high."  But the greater energy efficiency of the barns now on the market might take a little of the sting out of a purchase...Another reason expansion in N.C. will be difficult: "We don't have enough land for a good rotation in the I-95 corridor," says Vann.

Burley growers maximized their curing capacity in 2013. "If we plant more, we may see some outdoor curing facilities built," says Darby Montgomery, owner of the Big Burley Warehouse of Lexington, Ky. "But that would be the extent of it. I don't see any new conventional barns going up"...Quarles hasn't seen any conventional barn building recently, although curing space is tight. "If we need it, we could easily use temporary curing structures. But I think burley would have to get a further price increase to generate that."

GAP MEETING DATES in February and March 

To learn more about the GAP Connections program please call 865-622-4606 or visit  www.gapconnections.com.

North Carolina

• February 12: Surry County/Yadkin County, N.C. Location to be determined. Phone: 336-371-0189. Starts at 10 a.m. 
• February 13: McSwain Extension Ctr., 2420 Tramway Rd., Sanford, N.C. Phone: 919-775-5624. Starts at 10 a.m.

Kentucky 

• February 11, Noon. Wayne/Pulaski County Meeting, Wayne County Extension Office, 255 Rolling Hills Blvd., Monticello, DL _CES_WAYNE @EMAIL.UKY. EDU, 270-886-6328.
• February 18, 6:45 p.m. Bath/Montgomery Counties Commodity Night, Bath County Extension Office, 2914 Hwy. 60, Owingsville Ky. Contact: Gary Hamilton,  DL_CES_BATH@EMAIL.UKY. EDU or 606-674-6121.
• February 20, 6 p.m. Estill and Powell County Meeting, Estill County Extension Office, 76 Golden Court, Irvine, Ky.  Contact: Eric Baker, 606-723-4557 or DL_CES_ESTILL@EMAIL.UKY.EDU.
• February 21, 10 a.m. (Eastern Time). Louisville Area Tobacco Meeting, Shelby County Extension Office, 1117 Frankfort Rd., Shelbyville, Ky. Contact: Corinne Belton, 502-633-4593 orcorinne.belton@uky.edu.
• March 5, 1 p.m. Dark Tobacco Meeting, Christian County Extension Office, Hopkinsville, Ky. Contact: 270-886-6328. 
• March 7, 1 p.m. Dark Tobacco Meeting,  McLean Co. Ext. Office, Calhoun, Ky. Contact: (270) 273-3690.

Tennessee 

• February 18, 2:30 p.m. Burley, Appalachian Fair Grounds, Bldg. 1, Lakeview Street, Gray, Tn.
• March 3, 4:30 p.m. Dark, Montgomery/Stewart County Tobacco Meeting, Montgomery Co. Ext. Office, Clarksville, Tn. Contact: 931-648-5725.
• March 13, 7 p.m. Middle Tennessee Research & Education Center,1000 Main Entrance Drive, Spring Hill, Tn. Contact: Joe Beeler at jbeeler5@utk.edu.
• March 27, 6 p.m. Burley, Grainger County Meeting, Ag Pavilion, 280 Bryan Rd., Rutledge, Tn. Contact: Anthony Carver, 865-828-3411 or bcarver4@utk.edu.

Indiana

• February 24, 1:30 p.m. (Eastern Time). Scott County Tobacco Meeting, USDA building, 656 S. Boatman Rd., Scottsburg, Indiana. Contact: Megan Voles at 812-752-8452 or mvoyles@purdue.edu.
• February 24, 6 p.m. (Eastern Time). Switzerland-Jefferson County Tobacco Meeting, Switzerland County Purdue Extension Office, 708 West Seminary St., Vevay, Indiana. Contact:  Kyle Weaver:812-427-3152 or keweaver@purdue.edu.

Georgia 

• February 12, noon. Harry's Bar B Que, Claxton, Ga. Contact: Mike Dollar at 912-739-1292 or mdolar@uga.edu. 
• February 13, 10 a.m. Colquitt County Extension Office, Moultrie, Ga. Contact: J. Michael Moore, 229-386-3006 or jmmoore@uga.edu.
• February 14, noon. Baxley, Ga. Contact: Shane Curry at 912-367-8130  or dscurry@uga.edu. 

ADVERTISING

BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse. We will hold both sealed bid auctions and live auctions. We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.