DARK CONTRACTS ARE DOWN BUT FLUE NUMBERS ARESTABLE

 



Daniel Green, executive of the Burley Stabilization cooperative, and Will Snell of the University of Kentucky, were speakers at the recent Burley and Dark Tobacco Producers meeting in Bowling Green, Ky.

There will be at least as many acres of flue-cured this year as last in Georgia and Florida, says J. Michael Moore, Extension tobacco specialist for those two states. “We appreciate the higher level of contracting among buyers,” says Moore. “It probably reflects interest in this crop from China.” Input strategy for 2014: Shop early for supply, then look for low prices, says Moore. Georgians expect to go to field around April 7, a little earlier than usual. But that should be enough to gain some benefits in tomato spotted control. Black shank is a scary prospect for flue-cured growers who want to grow the old standard variety K-326. But Ben Teal of Patrick, S.C., says if you can get it on fresh land, 326 is still an excellent choice. Besides good management characteristics, it produces well on sandy land, he says. He has an advantage since he farms in a part of the tobacco belt in S.C., that has experienced a lot of attrition in recent years. So it is relatively easy to find land for rotation…Teal has used exclusively mechanical harvest for several years and is unlikely to change unless there is some improvement in the availability/cost of labor. It looks like the dark types will be way down in planting this spring. “It appears that there will be considerable reduction in contracting of dark air-cured and dark fire-cured,” says Andy Bailey, Kentucky-Tennessee Extension dark specialist. Dark wrapper types may take the place of some standard dark plantings. Some burley may also return to the Black Patch because the price differential favors it. Bad weather on January 18 reduced the expected turnout at the Kentucky-Tennessee Burley and Dark Producers (BDTPA) association annual meeting in Bowling Green. Worse yet, because of impeded travel, the panel on tobacco labor in 2024 had to be postponed until the association’s February board meeting. But 25 or 30 farmers were able attend, and some good ideas were exchanged, says Joe Cain, the association’s executive secretary. In other news from the meeting:   It’s been decided that BDTPA (which is one year old) and the longstanding Council for Burley Tobacco will be brought under the same umbrella later this year. They had been separate.   New board members are Chris Walker from near Murray, Ky., and John Henning of Breckenridge County, Kentucky. Walker grows burley and dark and Henning grows burley. GAP TRAINING MEETINGS: For information, call GAP at 865.622.4606, or email  GAP Connection Training Calendar https://shop. gapconnections. com/meetings/calendar or contact your local Extension office. All meetings are in English.