As if the high temperatures and low rainfall weren't bad enough, spotted wilt showed up in June and early July, as here in South Georgia. Photo by J.M. Moore.
There's an old poem that begins "April is the cruelest month," This year, for tobacco growers, June seemed much crueler, thanks mainly to historic heat and drought. Reports from the major producing states:
FLUE-CURED
In North Carolina, intense drought and heat took some of the luster off the very good start that the flue-cured crop in Eastern North Carolina enjoyed earlier (see “A Hot Start To The Harvest Season,” TFN June I).
“As optimistic as I was a month ago, I have to admit now that things have declined some,” says Mathew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. “We are in the midst of an historic drought, and it is taking its toll. On soils that are very sandy, the bottom leaves are sometimes drying up. We are in dire need of widespread rains.”
But there is still potential for a good middle and upperstalk in Eastern N.C. “We got out of the gate fast which helps," says Vann. "If it rains and we can get the tops out, we still have good prospects. We’ve not had any leaching rains to date, so our fertilizer is still there. The ability to irrigate is already looking like a major benefit this year.”
Harvest has barely started in the East, with only one or two percent of the leaf taken in so far, he says. “It’s mostly farmers getting a start to work out the kinks.”
In the N.C. Piedmont, the weather stress is just beginning to show. “As of now, the farmers there seem to have a pretty good crop,” says Vann.
In South Carolina, after a couple of weeks of hot and dry weather, most South Carolina farmers got some much-needed rain this past week, and the tobacco has responded well, says William Hardee, S.C. Extension tobacco specialist. Farmers are generally around a week or two from beginning harvest. But it could be delayed because the rains have “greened” the crop back up…As in many states, there was more tomato spotted wilt than last year. Hardee thinks statewide losses are around 10 percent.
In Georgia and Florida, some variable rain has fallen, but the crop still needs more. “We would like to have a half inch every two days, and we are not getting it,” says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. ..
Most of the Type 14 crop is topped and has received a couple of sucker control treatments. Harvest has begun in Florida and a few places in Georgia, but the volume is negligible so far. Some delugging is going on also. “We still have hopes of a good crop,” he says.
Black shank is appearing all through the tobacco-growing area of Georgia and Florida. It is associated with the high temperatures and low rainfall of the last two weeks. The array of relatively new high resistant varieties from the last 10 years has really helped prevent a major problem, Moore says.
New hits of tomato spotted wilt virus are showing up in Georgia, in at least one instance in a field that already had 20 percent incidence of the disease. “In some cases it is spreading up the plant after the first infection,” says Moore.
BURLEY AND DARK
In Kentucky, there may be a few stragglers who haven’t finished transplanting, but for all practical purposed it is done, says Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. “The transplant crop was a little late, but we have had no extended period of wet weather so setting went steadily,” he says.
It has been hot and dry in much of the state. "We have seen a few cases of severe transplant shock, but for the most part tobacco crops have fared well. We have the potential for a good crop if we get some rain in the coming days,” he says.
Kentucky has had more tomato spotted wilt than in the last two years. “But it hasn’t risen to the level of a ‘problem’ yet,” he says. Among other diseases, there have been the normal cases of black shank reported.
In Tennessee growers have finished transplanting except for those who are resetting, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. "We could sure use some rain now. We are dry in most of Tennessee now. In a few of our sandier fields we are seeing some sand loss. Where they can, our farmers are irrigating."
There is more spotted wilt than normal. “Maybe eight to 10 percent where three would be about normal," says Richmond. "There may be more thrips out there than normal due to the mild winter we had. Or the first flight might have been early."
In the Black Patch of western Kentucky and central Tennessee, where transplanting extends relatively late, the weather has slowed setting more than elsewhere. “We would like to have been done with transplanting by June 20, but we had a lot left then that still hasn’t been set (as of July 2),” says Andy Bailey, Kentucky-Tennessee Extension dark specialist. “We are hoping for rain this weekend so we can finish.”
A significant portion of the dark fire-cured in the Black Patch area goes in late to facilitate a second use of curing barns, and the weather has really interfered with the schedule of this tobacco. "There has been a lot of stand loss also, and replanting is continuing." Bailey thinks there has probably been some potential production loss already, but with more favorable weather from here on, a good crop could still be achieved.
Crop progress through June 12, according to USDA: GA flue-cured, 73% harvested; SC flue-cured, 54% harvested; NC burley, 74% planted; TN, burley and dark, 95% planted; KY, burley and dark, 98% planted.--Source: Crop and Progress Report, NASS-USDA.
REPORT FROM OVERSEAS
ZIMBABWE
From wood to gas for curing fuel? Zimbabweans search for new source of curing fuel. The Zimbabwean tobacco board said in June that it is urging gas technology companies to partner with it in developing a centralized gas curing facility for flue-cured tobacco. The purpose would be to reduce Zimbabwe’s severe deforestation problem. In addition, the new facility would be large enough for 50 or so farmers to cure tobacco at the same time, the board said. It’s hoped that a pilot project can be in operation in time for the upcoming curing season.
DATES TO REMEMBER
· The S.C. Tobacco Tour will take place July 12 and 13. It will begin with a dinner in Florence on the 12th and end in Sumter County in the afternoon of the 13th. For more information and to register, email William Hardee at hardee@clemson.edu. · The NC State Tobacco Field Day will be held Tuesday, July 26 starting at 9 AM and lasting till 12 PM at the Cunningham Research Station, 200 Cunningham Rd, Kinston, NC 28501. For more information, contact Matthew Vann (mcvann@ncsu.edu). · The Southern Piedmont (Va.) Annual Field Day will be held on Thursday, July 28. Registration begins at 4:30 PM, dinner at 5 PM, with a tour following of research trials. VDACS Commissioner Joseph Guthrie will speak. Register at http://tinyurl.com/ ycknwuda. · The Kentucky Bluegrass Burley Tour will be held August 10 at a time to be announced at the Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington, Ky. For more information, contact Bob Pearce at rpearce@uky.edu.
· The Kentucky Dark Tobacco Twilight Tour will be held August 11 at 5:30 PM at the Murray State University West Farm at Murray, Ky. For more information, contact Andy Bailey at 270 625 1560.
AND LET'S WRAP UP THE HOLIDAY with a poem submitted by my old friend Donald Fowlkes, who formerly the tobacco specialist with the University of Tennessee Extension Service, later with Philip Morris International and more recently with the Burley Stabilization Corporation. In it, he hypothesizes how a mythical farmer named Hardy Bright, might face the potential end of an era. Read it and let me know what you think.--Chris Bickers.
The Last Tobacco Farmer
He’s living out our history
Holding on in spite
Of the crusades and contradictions
He just loved the life
Hardy Bright is 13th generation
Working old Virginia land
Growing the crop his ancestors
Grew to deeply understand
Takes too many acres now
Labor can’t be found
Demand and money dwindled
Crop left without a sound
Hardy Bright’s a good man
Salt of the earth it’s a shame
That when he drew the tobacco straw
The choosing was calling for change
He won’t get a monument
Erected in his honor
But old man Hardy Bright
Was the last tobacco farmer
His gut pinches in irony
As Hardy walks the rows
Salvation crop joined the devil
Hardy Bright’s not sure that’s so
Something’s missing in this place
That begs our common sense
It’s more than family farmers
Or choice and consequence
Hardy Bright’s a good man
Salt of the earth it’s a shame
That when he drew the tobacco straw
The choosing was calling for change
He won’t get a monument
Erected in his honor
But old man Hardy Bright
Was the last tobacco farmer
Donald J. Fowlkes
May 2022
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