LONG DRY SPELL INTERFERES WITH CURING IN KENTUCKY

 

A scene from the tobacco-marketing past: Burley piles await sale on an unrecorded auction floor in Kentucky years ago. File photo provided by the burley growers association .

Burley quality slid precipitously in Kentucky late in the season, thanks to poor curing conditions. “We went from expecting a super crop early in the season to having one that is not real good now,” says Joe Cain, the executive director of the new Kentucky Burley & Dark Tobacco Producers Association (KBDTPA). Cain isn’t ready to estimate the volume that will be produced, but it will be lower than original expectations.   The quality of 2022 burley has been a big problem. Very low humidity has interfered with the curing of this crop. Intense drought since late September has made it difficult to get leaf in case…Not unexpectedly, this has lead to strong buyer interest in the top quality leaf that is available. Contract prices of as high as $2.35 have been reported. At the auctions in Springfield, Ky., a few bids of $2.15 have been reported…It is not clear how much burley is left to sell now. Some contract stations are still open, and the warehouse in Springfield might hold more sales if needed in the New Year. There have been three sales there to date.   There is reason for some optimism about the 2023 burley market, says Cain: “It appears that the companies are going to need more U.S. leaf.”   The last auction of flue-cured at Old Belt Tobacco Sales in Rural Hall, N.C., took place the week before Thanksgiving. “It was a good year for what tobacco we had,” says Dennis White, owner of Old Belt. “I saw some third quality tobacco sell for second quality price on auction. We didn’t get much first quality leaf—the contract stations took it all.” Generally, B2s sold for up to $1.95 on auction while good cutters sold for around $1.80. “Everyone was satisfied with the price." He doesn’t have an exact figure for the volume sold at his warehouse but says it was in the same range as last season. There would have been more but a hard freeze in November killed a lot of the remaining tobacco in the Piedmont and significantly reduced the volume brought to market late in the season. “It turned much of the leaf black,” White says. This was a very late crop in the Carolina Piedmont.   When the Chinese arrived: It was abundantly clear that orders from China appeared on the Old Belt market this season. “The last three weeks (of our auction), we noticed that the type of leaf that Chinese buyers like began bringing $2.10 or $2.15 a pound." It made for a strong finish for the market but White wishes Chinese buying would have started sooner. “Chinese orders came in too late for all the Chinese style leaf we had to get sold,” he says. “I still have some leaf of that style at my warehouse.”   There’s no doubt in White’s mind that independent auctions are here to stay for tobacco growers. “They serve a purpose. Farmers need a market to take rejections and crop failures and to get crop insurance. Where else are they going to get that?”    The first annual meeting of KBDTPA will take place January 19 at the Holiday Inn University Plaza and Conference Center in Bowling Green, Ky. The program starts at 9:30 Central Time. There is no charge to attend the meeting. There will be a luncheon for which there is no charge. But you must register to reserve a place at the lunch. Send an email to Executive Director Joe Cain at KYTobacco Growers@outlook.com to register.    Another major farmer meeting will take place in February. The Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina will hold its 2023 annual meeting at 10 a.m. Friday, February 3, in conjunction with the Southern Farm Show. The venue will be the Holshouser Building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. It will end with lunch around 12. Registration not required.   The Southern Farm Show will take place February 1 through February 3 at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, starting at 9 a.m. each day. Admission is free. A list of tobacco-related exhibitors will appear in TFN in January.   REPORT FROM OVERSEAS   BRAZIL: The harvest season was officially kicked off on December 6 with a festival in Rio Grande do Sul, the leading tobacco state in the country. Harvesting has actually been going on for several weeks and normally lasts until February.   ZIMBABWE: An electricity crisis caused by low water levels in the Zambezi River threatens the cure of Zimbabwe’s flue-cured crop. "There is an immediate requirement for tobacco farmers to access concessionary-priced diesel fuel for generator use,” said the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association in a letter dated December 5. “US$300 million of irrigated tobacco is reportedly under threat.” Irrigated flue-cured farms in Zimbabwe need 24 hours of continuous power per day. “Currently, farms are getting on average seven hours of power per day...which is 30 percent of the requirements from the utility.” REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF BURLEY A few years ago I had the pleasure of writing two books about burley tobacco in the South since John Rolfe first cultivated leaf in Jamestown in the 1600s. They were very similar format: The core of both books are interviews with "old time" burley growers who have grown the crop long enough to have special insights on burley production. In addition, I have provided notes on the historical events associated with burley.  One, The Bluegrass & Beyond, concentrates on Kentucky and Ohio and their place in tobacco history. The other, A History of Burley Tobacco in East Tennessee & Western North Carolina, centers on developments in those two states. Both include a reflection on the history of tobacco auctions by my friend and co-author Billy Yeargin. I have enjoyed sharing these books with my many friends in tobacco. Now, I find I have a few extra copies of both and can sell them to anyone who asks. The number is limited but I think I have enough for everybody. If we don't, I will print some more. If you would like one, send $20, plus $10 shipping and handling to 903--9 Shellbrook Ct., Raleigh NC 27609. Be sure to specify which book--Bluegrass & Beyond or A History of Burley Tobacco in ET/WNC. Questions? Call me at 984 810 9004 or email me at chrisbickers@ gmail. com.

A LAST LOOK AT THE 2022 AMERICAN TOBACCO CROP And a report on Brazil's outlook for 2023

 

A worker loads burley stalks on a truck at an East Tennessee farm as the season comes to an end. File photo by Christopher Bickers. USDA'S FINAL WORD ON THE U.S. CROP: In its last estimate of tobacco production this year, USDA projected flue-cured production as down a little from 2021 (9.1%), while burley was projected down a lot (22%). Among the smaller types, fire-cured and Pennsylvania seedleaf were up 2% and 9.5% respectively, while dark air-cured and Southern Maryland (which is grown almost exclusively in Pennsylvania) were down 2.1% and 42%. Particulars follow, shown by type with percentage change from a year ago:  Flue-cured—284.7 million pounds, down 9.1%; Burley—65.6 million pounds, down 22%; Fire-cured--50.2 million pounds, up 2.1%; Dark air-cured—24.6 million pounds, down 2.1%; PA seedleaf —9.2 million pounds, up 9.5%; Southern Maryland—440,000 pounds, down 42%. (Source: USDA Crop Production Report, Oct. 2022) TENNESSEE: The last of the 2022 tobacco crop has been in the barn for several weeks, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. “Most of the burley has been stripped, and the dark crop is not far behind”...Burley may have dodged a bullet in the barn: It was very dry when curing began, and there was fear that a quick cure would occur. This certainly did happen in some areas of the tobacco belt, but other areas seemed to have recovered from some of those issues. Burley yield seemed to be slightly better than average for growers who had access to the rains that did fall, says Richmond. For those who didn’t, the yield was average or slightly below…Richmond doesn’t have an estimate of total burley production in Tennessee yet, but he finds the most recent USDA projection of 4.5 million pounds credible...Connecticut in Tennessee? Some, though not all, of the Connecticut broadleaf grown in Tennessee this season did quite well, with good yield and a really good price. But is there a future for Connecticut broadleaf in the Volunteer State? It’s hard to tell. Richmond does not expect much of an increase in 2023. “It is a high-risk, high-reward crop, requiring intense management,” he says. “If you have a contract for one of the dark types (as many Central and Northwestern Tennessee growers did this year) you probably would rather grow dark.” But Richmond says a few farmers in East Tennessee, where dark has not traditionally been grown, are considering planting the Connecticut type in 2023. BRAZIL: More acreage in 2023--but not much more: A projected increase in plantings for the 2023 market in southern Brazil appears to have taken place. But it is not fencerow to fencerow--the volume projected from these plantings is about 8% more than in 2022, somewhat than had been expected. Farmers in southern Brazil (where almost all of the country’s flue-cured and burley is produced) have planted enough to harvest 604.73 million kg in 2023—7.95% more than in 2022, reports AFUBRA, Brazil’s tobacco growers association. AFUBRA President Benicio Albano Werner said the increase in production area was no surprise. “The past crop was, for a large part of [our] tobacco growers, very profitable,” he said. “This encouraged some producers to increase their planted area”...The increase would not in fact make up for the reduction of the season before. Production dropped nearly 11% in 2022 compared to 2021. According to AFUBRA, the volume in southern Brazil was only 560.18 million kgs in 2022, 10.9% less than in 2021 (Source:  Kohltrade Tobacco Trading).  UPDATE How to claim Stabilization Settlement funds The deadline is fast approaching: Current and former tobacco growers should complete a Proof of Claim Form for funds available from the Tobacco Stabilization Lawsuit Settlement. The form is a means of claiming any funds due FC Membership Owners as a result of their sales to Stabilization during 1967 through 1973 and remaining No Net Cost Funds paid by growers on each pound marketed from 1982 through 2004. What is the FC Membership Number? It is a number that all growers were required to have in order to participate in the Stabilization-operated Price Support Program. If you don’t have a number, help is available: The firm conducting the settlement disbursement has all the records of Stabilization and can link grower names and address changes through the years to their FC Membership Numbers and any refunds that are due. Funds due to a FC Membership Number can only be calculated after Proof of Claim forms are submitted and approved.  Claim forms must be received at the address in California by December 12. Submitting a Proof of Claim Form for the FC Membership Number of deceased growers must be made by the authorized legal representative (Administrator) of the legal owner and requires legal documentation of inheritance to include Wills, Letters of Administration or Letters of Testamentary, and an open estate in which to deposit the refunds from which to write checks to the appropriate heirs. Those interested in this approach should contact their Probate Court to understand the process of probating an estate. A warning: Notification of deserving individuals has been hampered by inability to obtain current addresses to replace the pre-911 Rural Route addresses on file when the FC Membership was assigned. Those who know others who should have grown tobacco and may not be aware of this settlement should help to share the word.  A copy of the qualified settlement fund (QSF) Procedures, along with additional relevant information, Frequently Asked Questions, and the Proof Of Claim Form can be viewed:https://omniagentsolutions. com/ lewis settle mentclasstrust. An on-line option is available to those who are original owners of the FC Membership Numbers and have their numbers. However, there is no known source of the number if you don't have it. (This article was written by J. Michael Moore, Extension Agronomist-Tobacco, Univ. of Georgia... Email: jmmoore@uga.edu. Note: You can call Moore at 229-392-6424. He asks that you send a text message before you call.)