A BIG BURLEY CROP HEADS TO MARKET

Burley curing in a large open-sided barn near Lafayette, Tn.

Too much burley? Jerry Rankin, owner of Farmers Warehouse in Danville, Ky., is worried about the supply/demand situation, "Before the bad weather at the end of the season, we were looking at maybe 28 million pounds of burley with no home. Now, because of the weather, it looks like more like 18 to 20 million pounds, but that is still enough that prices may not be too good." The Farmers Warehouse Tobacco will openTuesday before Thanksgiving at 9:30 a.m., and most others will open that week or soon after.

Good season, bad end: Rankin says Central Kentucky had a very good crop for most of the season until weather problems occurred late. "The season ended really bad. We had two weeks when rain fell nearly every day. It was too much, and the tobacco in field suffered." It was a common sight to see leaves falling from some stalks. "The frost hit while a lot of tobacco was on the stick, wilting," he says. "I saw some farmers pulling out their sticks and leaving the tobacco. Very little that was produced after the first week of October will be a quality that anyone will want."     

Higher yield needed: Larry Thompson of Bagdad, Ky., between Louisville and Lexington, says perhaps 10 percent of the local crop was still in the field when the weather turned cold. He doesn't know whether any of it will be usable. Fortunately for him, he'd gotten all his burley cut by the end of September. Stripping of his 50-acre crop is about a third finished now. His traditional varieties seem to be declining in yield, and he thinks a new high-yielding variety, HB 4488, could play a bigger part on this farm as a result. He wound up with some overage beyond his two contracts. At this point, it looks like he may not average more than $1.30 a pound on it. "That is a big comedown from $2 a pound last year," he says.

Disappointing sales in N.C.: Brent Ward of Elk Park, N.C., grew two acres this year of burley and sold some of it on November 11 at the Old Belt Warehouse in Rural Hall, N.C. The highest sold for $1.30 a pound. Some of it sold for $1.10. Ironically, this was some good tobacco. "Last year, I got a 2,000-pound yield on it. This year the weather was a little better and I should be over that. I am hoping for 4,500 pounds for the two acres." The new KT 212 variety did well for him and he will use it again if he grows tobacco again. "I would like to put out tobacco next year but not if I am going to lose money on it."

New chemical for black shank: Valent is likely to get a label for Presidio on tobacco early in 2015. It reportedly has good efficacy on black shank. It will be important to rotate it with other chemicals to prevent resistance, Extension specialists say. 

Lucky Strike stack still smoking: The Commonwealth Brands cigarette factory in Reidsville, N.C.--famous for its Lucky Strike smokestack--will continue to operate after its parent company, UK-based Imperial Tobacco Group, acquires the Lorillard Tobacco manufacturing, R&D facilities, corporate headquarters buildings and some 2,900 employees in Greensboro, N.C. Commonwealth-Altadis, Inc., which was formed in 2010 by Imperial Tobacco by combining Commonwealth Brands and cigar maker Altadis USA and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., also will become part of Imperial's new American entity, ITG Brands. All of this is dependent on regulatory approval,which is expected this coming spring, but if all goes as planned, Imperial will acquire Reynolds American's Kool, Salem and Winston cigarette brands and Lorillard's blu eCigs and Maverick cigarette brands. (It has been speculated that Reynolds American's Doral cigarette may also wind up in Imperial's hands.) Also part of the deal: Lorillard's tobacco receiving and storage facilities in Danville, Va. Blu eCigs will continue to be based in Charlotte. Commonwealth-Altadis' brands include USA Gold, Montclair and Sonoma cigarettes, and Dutch Masters, Backwoods and Phillies cigars.

UPCOMING GAP RECERTIFICATION MEETINGS

NORTH CAROLINA (Flue-cured)  

• January 6, 9:30 a.m. Wilson County Extension Office, 1806 Goldsboro St., Wilson, N.C. Contact:  252-237-0111 or  norman_harrell@ncsu.edu.

• January 8. 10 a.m. Johnston County Agricultural Center, 2736 N.C. 210 Highway, Smithfield, N.C. Contact: 919-989-5380 or  bryant_spivey@ncsu.edu.

• January 9, 7:30 a.m. 611 Gillespie St., Dobson, N.C. Contact: 336-703-2857or tim_hambrick@ncsu.edu.

• January 13, 10 a.m. Martin County Farmers Market, 4001 Main Street, Williamston, N.C. Contact: 257-789-4370 or al_cochranncsu.edu.

• January 14, 10 a.m. Farmers Market, Rocky Mount, N.C. 1006 Peachtree Street, Rocky Mount, N.C. Contact: 252-904-8189 or charlie_tyson@ncsu.edu.

• January 15, 9 a.m. Pitt County Agricultural Center, 403 Government Circle, Ste 2, Greenville, N.C. Contact: 252-902-1802 or mitch_smith@ ncsu.edu.

• January 26, 10 a.m. Sampson County Agri Expo Center, 414 Warsaw Rd, Clinton N.C. Contact: Contact: 910-592-7161 or della_king@ncsu.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 We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.

FARMERS TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  209 Harding St., Danville, Ky. PH: 859-236-4932 Full-service burley warehouse Jerry Rankin, Owner  Opening Tuesday, November 25 at 9:30 a.m. Call for information.

LITTLE LEAF LEFT IN FIELD AFTER INTENSE WEEKEND COLD

Getting burley cured any way you can: Burley hangs in black plastic-covered outdoor curing structures at the Highland Rim Research Center in Springfield, Tn. Burley was also hanging in the conventional barns in the left background. BURLEY Kentucky--A freeze over the weekend over much of the burley-producing area essentially brought the growing season to a halt. "There were still a few fields that hadn't been harvested," said Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. "But I don't expect much of that to be harvested now." Curing conditions had been good, and some is being stripped. "There is some good tobacco now, but I expect a big range of quality between the beginning of the season and the end," Pearce said. He hesitates to estimate production but thinks the current USDA estimate of 160.6 million pounds is too high. "This has been a tough crop to get a handle on," he said. Tennessee--The cold weather reached Tennessee a day sooner, but very little tobacco remained in the field there either. In Macon County, the number one burley county in the state, Extension agent Steve Walker said, "We had a major freeze over the weekend. It got to 25 degrees here in Lafayette and was colder  north to the  Kentucky border. It froze all that was still out. Some are trying to harvest what was left, but I think they would get poor quality with some color. It might not cure up at all"... Harvest had been brought to a near halt in north central Tennessee a few weeks earlier by a week of rain. "We had been dry after some showers around Labor Day, but then there was heavy rain from October 8 to October 16," said George Marks of Clarksville. "We had eight inches in six days" ... East Tennessee had its earliest measurable snowfall since 1925, said USDA. Southwest Virginia/West N.C.-- In southwestern Virginia's Carroll County, higher elevations received two to three inches of snow Friday night to Saturday morning, with temperatures well down into in the 20s, said the county agent there...And in Yancey County, N.C., temperatures dropped into the 20's and the first snow of the season fell....Kenneth Reynolds of Abingdon, Va., had finished cutting and hanging his burley before the cold snap. "The wet weather may affect the quality. It is a big crop, but I am afraid it will be thin because of all the rain," he said. What he has stripped so far has appeared average. "All the rain brought the tobacco in case (so he could work it). But we need some dry weather to dry out the leaf." FLUE-CURED Virginia--For all practical purposes, flue-cured harvest was over as of Monday, said David Reed, Virginia Extension tobacco specialist. "Only a few growers here and there still had tobacco in the field at the end of last week," he said. "It was generally small amounts, maybe a half dozen to a dozen barns per farmer." Because of the scattered frost over the weekend, he doesn't know if much of that will be harvested or not. Barely adequate barn space was the main reason harvest continued so late. "We had just so much curing capacity," Reed says. North Carolina--Most of the flue-cured-producing area in the state got scattered frost Sunday, said Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. Some areas got only a light frost, and some areas escaped it completely. There was still a little flue-cured left in the field, especially in the Piedmont. "If you just had a light frost, you might be able to harvest and sell it. But after a freeze, the leaf turns black, and there is no need of harvesting it"...Harvesting was intense the last week of October. "A few tobacco farmers (in our county) used neighbors' barns to get their remaining tobacco in before the predicted frost," said Brian Parrish, Harnett County Extension tobacco agent in a USDA survey. In other tobacco news: PMI will let dealers do its buying: Philip Morris International (PMI) announced November 5 that it will cease contracting directly with American farmers beginning with the 2015 crop. Instead, it will purchase American leaf exclusively through Alliance One International (AOI) and Universal Corporation. The two dealers will honor any multiyear farmer contracts still outstanding, PMI said. What happens to PMI receiving stations? I have been told that AOI intends to operate at least two of PMI's existing receiving stations--Kernersville, N.C., and Smithfield, N.C. I contacted a friend who manages one of PMI's burley stations yesterday--he said the news had come as a surprise to him and his co-workers, and they have no idea if they will still be working after the new agreement goes into effect. Why the change? Thee may be some efficiencies to be obtained. My guess is that PMI has been having problems moving grades it doesn't really need. This way, it can let the two dealers handle this tobacco. Maybe PMI doesn't feel it has the expertise to deal with the child labor question, or just doesn't want to. The details of complying with the GAP program may have been problematic for PMI too, it's been suggested. Well, look for more on this development in the next issue. Flue-cured auctions still going strong: The Big M Warehouse in Wilson, N.C. (phone  919 496 9033), will probably continue sealed bid auctions until November 19 or 20. Piedmont Warehouse in Danville, Va. (phone 434-203-1404), will continue its sealed bid auctions until November 21 or perhaps a bit later. The Carolinas Tobacco Auction in Lake City, S.C., tentatively plans a final sale on November 13 (call 843-687-5753 for details). The Old Belt Tobacco live auction in Rural Hall, N.C. (phone 336 416 6262) will sell flue-cured through most of November, then switch to burley and sell till perhaps mid December. Volume has been good lately, with B grades selling in the $1.75 to $1.80 a pound range. Watch for news on burley auctions in conventional markets in future issues. If you haven't signed on to receive it regularly or need to change an address, please click on "Join our mailing list" and follow the prompts. For more information, you can call me at919-789-4631 or email me at chrisbickers@gmail.com. Thanks--Chris Bickers 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 We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.