Above: A tornado ravaged the processing facilities of the Burley Stabilization Corporation in Springfield, Tn., on December 8.  LAST IMPRESSION OF 2023 TOBACCO: ALL MAJOR TYPES CAME UP SHORT The quality of 2023 flue-cured was very good. "Every pile offered for sale was sound usable tobacco, very desirable leaf," says Rick Smith, president of Independent Leaf Tobacco, a leaf dealer in Wilson, N.C. “Unfortunately, there is not enough of it. We are 50 million pounds short of the anticipated volume.” As a result, the price was strong. “There were a lot of dollars chasing not enough volume.”   The secondary market price was especially good, says Smith, who buys at the N.C. auctions. “The average was only a little short of the contract price,” says Smith. “I am not sure what the average ended up being, but it held pretty well up till the end: The last pile I saw sold went for $2.25.” The quality of the N.C. flue-cured crop seems to have appeqaled to buyers. "We had plenty of orange leaf," says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. "But there wasn't a lot of bright leaf, so manufactures loooking for that may have been disappointed." A good bit of the burley crop has been delivered to its buyers, says Joe Cain, the executive director of the new Kentucky Burley & Dark Tobacco Producers Association. "The quality is decent, though we don’t have the color we really wanted. But the curing situation of a few weeks ago has improved thanks to weather conditions. We have had some rain. A few farmers are leaving their tobacco in the  barn longer than usual to help get the color. The dark types of the Black Patch had a production shortfall too.  There was a lot of angular leafspot (ALS). Some of the dark fire-cured crop here never got harvested due to ALS damage. “Some that did get harvested shouldn't have,” says Extension tobacco specialist Andy Bailey “I would estimate fields that were a complete loss and not harvested amounted to at least 30%. There was maybe another 25% that was obviously damaged but still harvested.” Dark fire-cured is much more vulnerable to ALS than darkair0cured. Burley and Connecticut broadleaf are rarely affected by it. Variety choice doesn’t help much with ALS, says Bailey. “Some varieties do better than others, but none are resistant. And some of the more tolerant varieties are highly vulnerable to black shank.”But there is one situation where a variety might help with ALS. “If you want to plant dark in a field with none or very low black shank, PD7309 might be a good strategic choice against ALS. It fares reasonably well in the presence of ALS. But it has no resistance to Race One black shank, although it is resistant to Race zero.” Don’t take a chance with a field with any history of black shank. You may not see ALS every year but if you have black shank, you are going to see it almost every year.” The quality of N.C. flue-cured seems to have appealed to buyers. "We had plenty of orange leaf," says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. "But there wasn't a lot of bright leaf, so manufactures looking for that may have been slightly disappointed." There is one new flue-cured variety for 2024, he says. It’s PVH 1940, and it’s early and fast ripening. A tight burley supply situation became tighter when a thunderous tornado struck the Burley Stabilization Corporation's central facility in Springfield, Tn. The offices and receiving warehouse were largely destroyed leaving much of the tobacco in the warehouse subject to the elements. But the farmers got one small bit of good fortune: This tornado was not accompanied by torrential rains as one normally expects and in fact there was no rain for several days thereafter. So the cooperative was able to save some of the leaf, although a report is yet to come.  Hats off to BSC: Within three days, they had rerouted deliveries aimed for the Springfield receiving station to the station in Glasgow, Ky., so farmers would not experience long delays in selling their leaf. That is not an unalloyed blessing since some of the Springfield farmers are quite some distance from Glasgow. BSC leaders hope to have Springfield functioning again in time for next season’s market opening. Meet new specialists at winter county meetings: In the Virginia meetings, a new molecular assay will be introduced, which will, when it’s fully functional, be able to identify high and low black shank pathogen levels in soil. Virginia’s still-new Extension tobacco pathologist, Zeng Yuan , will make the presentation. She has been part of the staff for 15 months. In North Carolina, the new Extension tobacco pathologist, Daisy Ahumada (will tell about the new formulation of Orondis that may help in black shank control. She joined the NCSU staff in June. DATES TO REMEMBER 51st Tobacco Workers' Conference, January 15 – 18, at the Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. For more information, go to the official website at www.twconference.com. Southern Farm Show, January 31 through February 2, N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, starting at 9 a.m. each day. Admission is free.  Annual Meeting, Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, 10 a.m., Friday, February 2, at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.