A NEW GROWER ASSOCIATION IS BORN IN KENTUCKY

 

The Holiday Inn University Plaza in Bowling Green, KY where the first annual meeting of the new growers association will be held January 19.

The first annual meeting of the Kentucky Burley & Dark Tobacco Producer Association will be held at the Holiday Inn University Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Bowling Green, KY on January 19. This will be a joint meeting with the Council for Burley Tobacco, and it will be held in conjunction with the KY Commodity Conference. There is no fee to attend, but you should reserve a seat at lunch. Email KYTobaccoGrowers@ outlook.com. What you will find in Bowling Green: A program designed to help tobacco growers take control of their future. It will begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning with presentations by Will Snell, Ky. Extension ag economist, and Daniel Green, chief executive officer of Burley Stabilization Corporation on the current tobacco economy. Andy Bailey and Robert Pearce, both Kentucky Extension agronomists, will catch you up on research that can make a difference on your farm. There will be talks on GAP Connections and Federal Crop insurance, among other subjects, and the program will conclude a discussion by a farmer panel made up of Graham Boyd, executive VP, and Jonathan Renn, president, of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina; Darrell Varner, president, of the Council For Burley Tobacco, and Al Pedigo, president of the Burley and Dark Producer Association. Adjournment should take place at 3. The Annual Breakfast with the Commissioner will be held on Friday, February 3, in the Holshouser Building at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh NC during the Southern Farm Show. Tickets can be purchased for $35 each at www.eventbrite.com/e/18th-annual-breakfast-with-the-commissioner-tickets-465942104377. Call Michael Rhodes, Executive Director, Tobacco Farm Life Museum, at 919-284-3431.   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. There is no charge, and registration is 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 in the next TFN issue. In other tobacco news: Some products are short already, according to the N.C. Extension tobacco team. Of most concern: ·      Admire Pro (imidacloprid), a key insecticide for early season flea beetle, aphid and thrips suppression as well as suppression of tomato spotted wilt virus. ·      Telone II (1,3-D soil fumigant), one of the major nematicides that’s applied in advance of transplanting. There are alternatives to both. Watch this space for suggestions in the next issue of Tobacco Farmer Newsletter. The problem may get bigger. “Supply chain issues continue to plague us. The downstream ramifications have a lot folks worried about cost.”   Tight burley supplies made for a promising season one year ago, but declining margins and unfavorable weather led to lower production again, says Will Snell, University of Kentucky agricultural economist. The value of Kentucky’s tobacco crop in 2022 may end up at around $250 million. A sign of the times: Dark tobacco may prove to have accounted for half or more of the total value of Kentucky’s tobacco crop last year. “Dark tobacco continues to benefit from stable smokeless tobacco sales coupled with virtually non-existent foreign competition,” says Snell. A better price, please! say Brazilians. The Brazilian tobacco growers association (AFUBRA) are in price negotiations this week, and they are determined that their price should go up. Benício Werner, president of AFUBRA, said before the price meeting, “What we hear from the main market researchers is that…it will still be a year of demand (in 2033). We are noticing that instead of having a 1% to 3% drop in consumption, the drop (in 2022) was only 0.2%, indicating that cigarette factories will need more tobacco.” In addition, the good quality of the production ought to be reflected in better prices. “Most (of our) farmers are producing the quality tobacco that the international market is asking for. We need to observe this because a country that exports 85% of its tobacco must be concerned” with quality.   GAP TRAINING MEETINGS IN JANUARY. For more information, call GAP at 865.622.4606 or contact your local Extension office. All meetings are in English. No charge.   Tue, Jan 24, 9 am EST. Williamston, NC Wed., Jan 25, 9 am EST. Louisburg, NC Thu. Jan 26, 9 am EST. Greenville, NC Mon. Jan 30, 9 am EST. Lillington, NC Tue. Jan 31, 9 am EST. Goldsboro, NC