THE LAST OF THE 2022 CROP MAKES ITS WAY TO THE MARKET

 

Season comes to end: Some of the last of the 2022 flue-cured crop was tied by hand, cured in an old barn and sold at the N.C. State Fair in October, using old-time methods. There was a contest for best looping (see below). Photo courtesy N.C. Department of Agriculture. As best as can be told, all of the 2022 crop that will be harvested has been harvested. Any that might have still been out in November was probably killed by very cold weather in the middle of the month. Here is what Tobacco Farmer Newsletter has learned about the end of the season in the northernmost tobacco-producing states... NORTH CAROLINA -- The flue-cured crop here turned out better than would have been predicted a month or six weeks earlier, says Matt Vann, North Carolina Extension tobacco specialist. “We had above average yield [that was] better than a year ago in most places, and I think it has sold better than last year,” he says. All flue-cured is harvested (or abandoned) now, he says. He thinks most of the small amount left in the field late in the season was killed by frost. But it wasn’t much. “I surveyed County Agents and we don't think there was more than a couple hundred acres worth that was completely lost, though more was damaged to a small degree,” says Vann… What is the major lesson growers should learn from the last two seasons? Irrigate if you can. That was particularly apparent in 2021 and 2022. “Those were two seasons that were critically short on rain, and our tobacco felt it,” says Vann. If you have the water resources for it, irrigate. KENTUCKY--There is still some concern about the quality of late harvested burley, says Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. “Farmers have been trying to keep it in the barns as long they can,” he says. “We are doing what we can to improve the color. But it has been very cold, and color doesn’t change much in those conditions. There have been a few fronts that went through the Bluegrass lately, but it has been dry most of this month.” The early crop on the other hand has been selling well, getting good quality grades so far, Pearce says. VIRGINIA--Frost in mid October was a big problem for many growers in the Danville area. “Hardly any farmers totally escaped the effects of frost,” says Stephen Barts, Extension agent in Pittsylvania County. “The loss was substantial. But generally, our yield is average or slightly below, our quality is better than in 2021 and our tobacco has sold well so far. But the profit isn’t good because of the high cost of production. When we have such a narrow profit margin after average yield and at least average quality, there is discouragement”…Pittsylvania, the major tobacco-producing county in the Southside, now produces almost entirely flue-cured. Burley was a factor for many years but Barts says it’s almost all gone now. But there is a little dark Virginia and Connecticut broadleaf grown in the county. BLACK PATCH--This season will be remembered in the Black Patch for the very dry fall, says Andy Bailey, Kentucky-Tennessee Extension dark specialist. “We were 6.5 inches below normal rainfall in September and October.  Tobacco harvested from mid September on looks pretty rough. It went into the barn so dry that the cure was really affected.” But tobacco cured earlier looks pretty good. “I have heard of prices of $2.20 to $2.27 for burley.” The Black Patch had some problems with early frost too but not much was still in the field when it set in. “Some dark fire-cured had been cut and was waiting to go into the barn. This was harder to cure. The midribs were full of moisture.”…Some burley is grown in this area and it took a beating from the weather this season. “There is real concern about the usability of much of our burley,” says Bailey…On the other hand, the Connecticut broadleaf in western Kentucky and central Tennessee turned out well again this year. In other tobacco news: A dynasty in tobacco tying? The Maple Hill Loopers won the Tobacco Looping Contest at N.C. State Fair in October. The team, made up of Ken Jones and his wife Sandy of Maple Hill and Michael Sunday of Hendersonville, has won the contest eight times. Once the hands were tied and cured (see photo), they were sold in a mock auction. REPORT FROM OVERSEAS ZIMBABWE Tobacco sales here ended on October 21, and the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) reported both volume and value were up from the previous year. The value, according to TIMB, was US$650 million, up 10.3 percent from the US$589 million value of last year’s crop. The increase in value was generated almost entirely by higher prices since the volume was up only up 0.765 percent. A total of 212.7 million kilograms of tobacco were sold this season, up from [approximately] 211.1 million kilograms in 2021, said TIMB…The Zimbabweans have vast ambitions for expansion in the next three years. “The increase in tobacco sold [this season], as well as the value, is evidence of our efforts as an industry to establish a US$5 billion industry by 2025,” said TIMB.