SUMMER WINDS TOUGH ON TOBACCO
Harvest is rapidly progressing in Georgia and Florida, says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. “It’s been a long hot summer. We had a beautiful crop in June, but water and wind have set it back, mainly by damaging root systems and leaching fertilizer. Now we are seeing less leaf to harvest, and the leaves weigh less, so that it won’t weigh as much.” This crop will be lighter than hoped, he believes. Tomato spotted wilt virus has been worse than average this year, says Moore. “About 35 percent of our plants are showing symptoms”…Receiving stations have been accepting tobacco for three weeks. “Growers seem pleased with the demand,” says Moore. “Prices seem good”…Georgia/Florida farmers have suffered some wind damage this season. “We sure didn’t need that,” says Moore. “Some fields have been blown over several times.” That damages the root system, causing problems harvesting,. “You can stand the plants back up, but cost of production is increased due to extra labor required to set the plants back up and to remove the crooked stalks that wind up in the harvested tobacco.”
The North Carolina crop looks pretty good on the whole,” says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. “The heat in the last month has definitely taken a toll. But we have had rain. If the heat abates, it looks like this could be a good crop. I’m optimistic”…The stalk on this crop is shorter than usual. “Frequently we see only 18 leaves on a stalk instead of 23”… There have been several intense wind events in North Carolina this season. Two of the biggest were a windstorm in the Sand Hills in June and a tornado in Edgecombe and Nash counties in July. Both caused significant damage, but such events were not widespread, Vann says” …There have been some soilborne diseases like black shank but not nearly as much as last season. Tennessee tobacco had been on pace for above-average production until wind and rainstorms early this month, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. It hit hard in the northeast. The UT tobacco program had four tobacco tests at the research center in Greeneville, says Richmond. “Winds forced all of it to lay over, and I am afraid it will be a total loss”…Most wrapper tobacco still in the field had been topped when the wind came so it was less vulnerable to wind than it would have been before topping. But wind can still be a problem for this type because it is so easy to blow over.
A report from Kentucky explains what makes the Connecticut type different from the types traditionally grown in the Southeast. One of the major differences is that the profit a farmer makes from CBL is more dependent on the quality of the leaf than on the yield, says Caleb Perkins, tobacco research assistant at the University of Kentucky. “For this crop to be profitable, at least 50 percent of the leaves need to be wrapper/binder quality,” he says. “High quality leaves can bring $4 to $7/lb based on current market prices.” Many factors can prevent CBL leaves from achieving wrapper/binder quality. “Damage to leaf quality can occur from harvesting, insects, pesticides, weather and diseases caused by various pathogens.” It’s a short season crop. Connecticut Broadleaf harvesting takes place nine to 10 weeks after transplanting. “So this tobacco is harvested rather immature compared to dark air-cured or burley standards. Late-season frogeye leaf spot has been the greatest limitation to CBL production when it is grown in Kentucky and Tennessee, says Perkins. “Infections occurring late in the season can result in green spot or barn spot, which will greatly diminish wrapper yields. Frogeye leaf spot normally shows symptoms late in the growing season, at the time when Connecticut Broadleaf is being harvested.” So symptoms will not typically be visible while the tobacco is in the field, he says. “They will become visible as green spots when the tobacco has cured.” Foliar fungicides labeled for frogeye leaf spot can be used to prevent or reduce the amount of green spot in the cured leaf when applications are made properly in the field, he says.
An aid in diversification: CBL may eventually have a role to play for Conner Stonbach of Tipton Hill in the mountains of Western NC. He says he and his father have thought about growing it. “We haven’t done it yet but we want to try it,” says Stonbach, who adds, “I am all about diversifying.” Last year he grew some Maryland tobacco [see TFN August I 2023]. But neither Connecticut broadleaf or Maryland air-cured competed well with burley. “We got a better price this year thanks to a good contract from Burley Stabilization. We potentially could make the most money we ever have on tobacco in 2023.”
Auction sales of flue-cured begin on Wednesday at three warehouses. They are:
- Horizon Ltd., 1723 Goldsboro St. So., Wilson, N.C. Live & silent auctions. Contact Kenneth Kelly at 252 292 8822. Starting time 9 AM.
- American Tobacco Exchange, 10 AM, 2101 Miller Rd., Wilson, NC. Live auction. Contact auction manager Tommy Faulkner at 910 585 2708. Starting time 10 AM
- Coastal Piedmont, 1291 Johnston Parkway, Kenly, N.C. Auction sales. Contact switchboard at 919 284 0504. Call for starting time.
- Old Belt Tobacco Sales in Rural Hall, N.C. will announce its first sales date soon.
REPORT FROM OVERSEAS
Record sales in Zimbabwe: Through July 28, with only a few cleanup sales remaining, 293.1 million kilograms of tobacco [almost all flue cured] had been sold since the market opened in March. It was a record, said the government, exceeding the previous record of 259 million kilograms set in 2019. The price was a respectable US$3.03 per kilogram.
Agronomist's plea in Zimbabwe: Don't overplant. Zimbabwean farmers are already preparing for the 2024 season, and an agronomist with Mashonaland Tobacco Company, Lazarus Gatawa, has urged growers not to plant more area than they can manage. “It is advisable to plan to grow a hectarage that you have full inputs on and to use the correct plant population,” he said. The hectares that a farmer grows should be positively related to barn capacity and efficiency.
IN PASSING
Tobacco lost two good men in the last 30 days: Tommy Bunn of Raleigh and Jerome Vick of Wilson NC. Tommy had been an executive for 20 or so years of the US Tobacco Cooperative and before that the leader of the Leaf Tobacco Growers Association. He was by all odds one of the most astute observers of the tobacco economy that I ever interviewed. Jerome was a successful farmer in the heart of flue-cured country and was powerfully committed to the betterment of the situation of tobacco farmers. Parenthetically, they were both good friends of mine, and I will miss them greatly, as will the whole tobacco community. | 
