A TORRENTIAL END TO A TOUGH GROWING SEASON

After the deluge: This flue-cured grower in the N.C. Piedmont near Winston-Salem had trouble completing combining after late-season rains. "All crops that were either ready for harvest or being harvested are in a state of decline due to the length of it raining," said Robin Watson, NCDA regional agronomist stationed in Burlington. How much South Carolina tobacco was lost to the flood? The small amount (all flue-cured) that remained in the field when the storm complex arrived on October 1 is now probably a complete loss, said Tré Coleman, S.C. Department of Agriculture marketing specialist. "I don't know if any can be salvaged," he told Tobacco Farmer Newsletter. "It was not only the rain--we had high winds for two days afterward that whipped the stalks. And it might be 10 days (from October 5) before fields are dry enough to get back in. I would be surprised if any more can be harvested." Losses will be limited in S.C., however, because no more than one to two percent of the state's 27-million-pound crop remained on the stalk when the rain started falling, according to Coleman. And what was left was in poor condition because of diseases. "We'd had perfect disease weather the last week or 10 days of September," said William Hardee, area Extension agronomy agent for Horry and Marion Counties. "There was bad bacterial wilt along with the sunscald that we'd had earlier." So even without the rain, the yield might have been very low. In some of the other states where tobacco was affected: In North Carolina, flooding was not as extensive as in S.C. But there was much more rain than was desired. In the east, near Kinston, Alton Roberson was very glad he had finished harvesting before the end of September. "But right much was still in the field, and in the growers' opinions, they couldn't finish harvesting quick enough," he said. There was a great fear that leaf would turn to trash on the stalk if it stayed out too long. In north central N.C., farmers received "welcomed but excessive rains," said Robin Watson, N.C. Department of Agriculture regional agronomist stationed in Burlington. "Tobacco farmers are having a difficult time in getting their tobacco out of the field," he said. "All crops that were either ready for harvest or being harvested are in a state of decline due to the length of it raining." In Virginia, Cynthia Gregg, Extension agent in Brunswick County, Va, in thesouthern part of the state, said minor flooding and ponding of water in pastures and crop fields were evident across the county. "Some tobacco fields have been stripped. Others still have some tips to be harvested. These fields are showing damage due to the excess rainfall." In Lunenburg County, about 50 miles west of Brunswick, some tobacco was pulled the week ending October 4, said Lindy Tucker, Extension agent. "Otherwise, no one was in the field." October Crop Report: Volumes continue to slide, says USDA. The October projection for tobacco production (released October 9) puts flue-cured volume at 468 million pounds, a million pounds more than it estimated in September but 18 percent less than last year. It projected burley production at 152 million pounds, five million pounds less than it estimated in August and 29 percent less than last year. Among the individual states: FLUE-CURED North Carolina--365.5 million pounds, down 19 percent. Virginia--48.3 million pounds, down 10 percent. South Carolina--27.1 million pounds, down percent Georgia--27.3 million pounds, down 20 percent. BURLEY Kentucky--114 million pounds, down 30 percent. Tennessee--19.2 million pounds, down 29 percent. Pennsylvania--11.2 million pounds, down 11.5 percent. Ohio--3.3 million pounds, down 22 percent. Virginia--2.1 million pounds, down 26 percent. North Carolina--two million pounds, down 23 percent. OTHER TYPES Fire-cured--56.9 million pounds, down three percent. Dark air-cured--17.6 million pounds, down one percent. Connecticut/Massachusetts cigar types--4.1 million pounds, down one percent. Southern Maryland--3.6 million pounds, down 21 percent. Pennsylvania seedleaf--2.9 million pounds, down 21 percent. Editor: Chris Bickers.903-9 Shellbrook Ct. Raleigh, N.C. 27609. chrisbickers@gmail.com.919 789 4631. ADVERTISEMENTS BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse. We hold sealed bid auctions We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.  How burley bloomed in the Blue Ridge For an easy-to-read account of how burley came to east Tennessee and western North Carolina in the late 1800s, along with oral history interviews with some of the best of the older generation burley farmers, and much more, order The History of Burley Tobacco in East Tennessee & Western North Carolina by Billy Yeargin and Christopher Bickers. Send a check for $25 to Chris Bickers, 903-9 Shellbrook Ct., Raleigh, N.C. 27609. Questions? Contact Bickers at 919 789 4631or via email at chrisbickers@gmail.com. FARMERS TOBACCO WAREHOUSE 209 Harding St., Danville, Ky. PH: 859-236-4932 Full-service burley warehouse Jerry Rankin, Owner   Call for information.

LATE NEWS from South Carolina, October 6, 2015: The small amount of tobacco (all flue-cured) that remained in the field when the floods began October 1 is now probably a complete loss, says Tré Coleman, S.C. Department of Agriculture marketing specialist. "I don't know if any can be salvaged," he told Tobacco Farmer Newsletter. "It was not only the rain, but we had high winds for two days afterward that whipped the stalks. And it might be 10 days before fields are dry enough to get back in. I would be surprised if any more can be harvested." But the production loss will be limited despite the fact that almost all the tobacco farms in S.C. suffered from the rain--Coleman estimates that no more than one to two percent of the state's 30-million-pound crop remained on the stalk when the rain started falling.

MARKETING PACE ACCELERATES AS HARVEST MOVES UP STALK

Workers harvest flue-cured leaf near Yadkinville in the Piedmont of North Carolina (file photo). Slow development of bottom crop: Flue-cured deliveries in August and early September were very light, says Graham Boyd, executive vice president of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C. "Many of our farmers have just finished marketing the bottom half of their crop last week," he says. "That's late for us." But he anticipates 90 percent of the crop will be delivered by the opening of the N.C. State Fair onOctober 15, more than had been delivered on that date a year ago. After several days of 105 degree heat, real skill had to be applied to curing this year's flue-cured, says Boyd. "Even veteran growers who had cured many crops did not have enough' notes in the Rolodex' to figure out how to cure this less than desirable leaf," he says. But they seem to have done fairly well, judging from the leaf that's coming to the market," he says. In Eastern North Carolina, the season started out with seven inches of rain associated with Tropical storm Ana. "Luckily I hadn't fertilized," says Danny Sykes of Lenoir County, N.C. "After the rain, we put out our fertilizer, then it turned off dry and didn't rain again until the tobacco was a foot high. That slowed us down." They still had some tobacco in the field as of September 21. "That is late for us," he says. The rain picked up at the tail end of the season. "We had a little black shank late but the crop has weighed good except for the first pullings. From the cutters up, it has been pretty good." A sucker control chemical that combines fatty alcohols with flumetralin made sucker control a little easier in dry mid season of 2015. "Plucker-Plus from Drexel was convenient and it worked as advertised," says Sykes of Lenoir County. "I was well satisfied with it." Before Plucker-Plus became available, Sykes' program was two applications of a contact, then one of flumetralin. "This year, I made one application of the contact, and then I was able to skip the second and instead finish with Plucker-Plus," he says. "It saved on contact application." Plucker-Plus is made up of Sucker-Plucker (fatty alcohols) and Drexalin Plus, a flumetralin formulation, in a four to one ratio.  After extreme rainfall earlier, it has been very dry in the Bluegrass, says Roger Quarles, a burley grower from Georgetown, Ky. "Except for showers on September 25, much of the burley crop has gotten no rain in the past month," he says. "We have finished with harvest, but curing this crop is a real challenge. On my farm, we have closed up all but one of our barns to hold in moisture. We will do what we can, but this crop won't have the dark color that we like to see. It's going to be light colored." The yield will also be affected. "When the rains stopped, the crop was plenty tall enough and had plenty of leaves. But since then it has lacked the moisture it needed to fill." The first burley cut in East Tennessee will soon be cured, says Eric Walker, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. Curing conditions have been satisfactory and good quality is hoped for. There is more concern for the burley that is still in the field should the weather turn cold and dry. That could result in flash curing. But not a whole lot remains to be harvested. "We are over half way done with barning, and it may be more like three quarters," Walker says. "We are on the backside now." Heavy early rains in many parts of Tennessee lead to problems with bacterial soft rot that were significant in some burley fields, says Walker. "There was some leaf loss. Target spot was also bad in some areas. A number of fields got blue mold throughout the season, but farmers reacted proactively with fungicides, and with the help of dry conditions, yield losses from this disease were minimized. Most sightings were in or near Greene County, where the initial outbreak was discovered. Reynolds American has sold the international rights to the Natural American Spirit brand name and the international companies that distribute and market the brand outside the U.S. The buyer is Japan Tobacco and the value is approximately five billion dollars. It was not immediately apparent whether the NAS factory in Oxford, N.C., will produce all or any of the cigarettes JTI will sell. Watch for more details in coming issues of TFN. How you can have a say in the N.C. research referendum. "I read in your newsletter about the referendum on continuing the N.C. tobacco research and education checkoff," writes Shannon Boswell of Selma, N.C. "How can I make sure I get the opportunity to cast a ballot? I totally agree with the research fee. This is the one deduction from my tobacco check that I know what the money is going to and agree with." But she is not so sure about the other two tobacco checkoffs for N.C. farmers. Tobacco Associates, Inc., for instance. "From a news article I found online, I see where it was started in the Forties, so it has been around a long time," she says. "But I have also spent time looking online and through the information sent to me, and I have been left with no answers as to what the fee they deduct truly goes towards, or how that amount gets determined and approved.  Can we request refunds? If so, what is the process?" She also doesn't understand the assessment for the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C. "It stated in its Spring 2015 Newsletter that its checkoff was voted for and approved by 80 percent of the flue-cured growers in the state, yet I never received anything in the mail and was not part of a vote," she says. "Several other farmers told me they had no knowledge of the vote either.  Does that mean I was an automatic yes vote if I did not participate? With this difficult tobacco season, I guess we have started paying more attention to the details of everything coming out of our checks, and want to learn more." Editor's Note: You came to the right place. I am very familiar with all three of these organizations, and I think I can answer all your questions. First, let me say that refunds can be requested for all three checkoffs. There is a time limit, so if you are thinking about doing this, look into it soon. I believe for all three the deadline is 30 days after your last sale. But I can't say I recommend doing so--all three entities do what they set out to do, and considering that the cost is very economical, I would say growers are getting a bargain. But suit yourself. Following are the individuals you would need to contract for more information or to request a refund, along with some additional details on their fund-raising efforts. Note that the research referendum applies to all N.C. tobacco growers, the Tobacco Associates referendum is for flue-cured growers in all producing states and TGANC represents only N.C. flue-cured growers. Tobacco Research Check-off: Contact Keith Oakley, president, N.C. Tobacco Foundation, which administers the checkoff, keith_oakley@ncsu.edu or 919-515-9262. On November 19, you can cast your vote for or against the research referendum at any Extension office in a county with significant tobacco acreage. To vote on the 10 cents per 100 pounds assessment, you must share in the risk of the costs of production for flue-cured or burley tobacco.  Tobacco Associates: Contact Veronica Martins, office manager, Tobacco Associates, 919-821-7670 or tar@tobaccoassociatesinc.org. TA uses grower checkoffs from all the flue-cured states to fund export promotion and expansion programs. It must be revalidated in a referendum every three years, and the next one will probably be in January 2016. Details have yet to be worked out. The check-off amount is one fifth of one cent per pound, or 20 cents per 100 pounds. Tobacco Growers Association of N.C.: Contact Graham Boyd, executive vice president, TGANC, 919-614-0099 or grahamboyd@nc.rr.com. Unlike the other two but like most other agricultural commodity associations in this state, TGANC doesn't need reauthorization by growers to continue collecting the checkoff, which is ten cents per hundredweight or about $2.30 an acre. The original referendum was conducted in the spring of 2014, and 88 percent of the roughly 400 farmers who cast a vote voted yes. Should you seek a refund? I am afraid I can't be objective on that question. I was one of the founding members of TGANC, and when I think about how much of my adult life I spent trying to get a grower assessment for the organization, I find it more than a bit traumatic to think that anyone would not think it was money well spent. But if you think it, you think it, and you can call Graham Boyd and debate the question further.

How burley bloomed in the Blue Ridge For an easy-to-read account of how burley came to east Tennessee and western North Carolina in the late 1800s, along with oral history interviews with some of the best of the older generation burley farmers, and much more, order The History of Burley Tobacco in East Tennessee & Western North Carolina by Billy Yeargin and Christopher Bickers. Send a check for $25 to Chris Bickers, 903-9 Shellbrook Ct., Raleigh, N.C. 27609. Questions? Contact Bickers by phone at 919 789 4631 or via email at  chrisbickers@gmail.com.

BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse. We hold sealed bid auctions We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.

FARMERS TOBACCO WAREHOUSE 209 Harding St., Danville, Ky. PH: 859-236-4932 Full-service burley warehouse Jerry Rankin, Owner   Call for information.

THE PROSPECTS FOR THIS CROP KEEP FALLING

Workers load curing barns with flue-cured leaf on a farm in Johnston County, N.C. The September projection for tobacco production from USDA (released this past weekend) puts flue-cured volume at 467 million pounds, six million pounds less than it estimated in August and 19 percent down from last year. It projected burley production at 157 million pounds, the same as it estimated in August and a whopping 26 percent down from last year. Among the individual states: Flue-cured North Carolina--357 million pounds, down 20.8 percent. Virginia--50.4 million pounds, down 6.6 percent. South Carolina--30 million pounds, down 9.4 percent. Georgia--29.2 million pounds, down 15.2 percent.     Burley Kentucky--117.8 million pounds, down 28 percent. Tennessee--20.8 million pounds, down 23.3 percent. Pennsylvania--11.5 million pounds, down 9.6 percent. Ohio--3.3 million pounds, down 22.6 percent. Virginia--two million pounds, down 28.8 percent. North Carolina--1.98 million pounds, down 25.5 percent.                                         :                                                             Other types Fire-cured--55.8 million pounds, down 5.6 percent. Dark air-cured--16.6 million pounds, down 4.9 percent. Cigar types--8.5 million pounds, down 5.5 percent. Southern Maryland--4.2 million pounds, down 10 percent.                           Vote on research in N.C.: A referendum of N.C. tobacco growers will be held onNovember 19 to ascertain whether they want to continue assessing themselves 10 cents per 100 pounds of tobacco sold --both flue-cured and burley-- for support of tobacco research and education. The check-off, started in 1991, has allocated about $300,000 a year to tobacco-related projects at N.C. State University.  The most recent referendum was in 2009. A good start for organic farmers: Swiss Organic Tobacco (SOT) began accepting contract deliveries last Friday at its receiving station in Wilson, N.C. One farmer who delivered that day called TFN to say he was "well satisfied" with the sale. "It was graded fairly," he says. He estimated that he averaged $2.06 a pound on offerings that were mostly C1s and X1s and X2s. "The price is a whole lot better than conventional." But there is still some exasperation with the late start of the market season. SOT's station in Kernersville, N.C., will begin accepting deliveries this Friday, then Wilson and Kernersville will alternate on Fridays till the market closes. Starving in the rain? The general media seem to have discovered the rainy season of 2015. Here are a few samples: From the Evansville (Ind.) Courier Press-- "They always say a dry year'll scare you to death and a wet year'll starve you to death," said Clay Troutman of Calhoun, Kentucky..."We've had a tremendously wet summer and it really hurt us." He grows 12 acres of burley and dark. And from TV station WSET ABC of Lynchburg, Va.--"For us to maintain our place in the world economy, we've got to strive for really, really good, solid clean tobacco," said Pittsylvania County tobacco farmer Tim Shelton. Too much enthusiasm over energy tobacco? One of the most reliable economic sources this editor has ever had cautioned me about my coverage of the Tyton project in the last issue. "This may turn out to be a bonanza for farmers, at least those located near the extractors, but I would wait to get the full story before jumping on the band wagon," he wrote. "Price is the big issue relative to other uses of the land. And, what might be viable at $100 oil may not fly in today's low energy environment. Lots of questions yet, including the financial strength of the companies and their ability to pay." That is probably good advice, so I will leave it for what it is worth. By the way, I have learned that Tyton has an informative website at http://tytonbio.com.

COULD YOU MAKE MONEY GROWING ENERGY TOBACCO?

Densely planted, no sucker control, then cut like silage: Energy tobacco will cost much less to produce than conventional. (Photo provided by Tyton) A company in Virginia will soon begin signing contracts with farmers to produce tobacco for the manufacture of ethanol and biodiesel. Tyton BioEnergy Systems of Danville wants farmers to grow "energy" tobacco for delivery to its extractor in Danville (or to another extractor that is in the works in Raeford, N.C.) No information yet on prices or what scale of production of the company is looking for, but all that should be available fairly soon. Cheaper to grow: The cost of producing energy tobacco should be much less than that of flue-cured, burley or any of the dark types. There will be no cost of plant production: Tyton will provide the transplants. Spacing of rows need not change but the spacing within the row will be much denser. You may need to tweak your fertility program to some degree but Tyton leaders don't expect a significant increase in total fertilizer per acre. You won't need to control suckers since suckers produce the end product just as well as leaf. But topping is desirable, although it apparently didn't get done in the photograph above. Control of insects and diseases will not be affected. You will harvest with a silage chopper, probably in mid summer, which would be the time of peak sugars, and perhaps once more at the end of the season. Curing is a thing of the past--the energy tobacco will go straight from the field to Tyton. Eventually, beltwide plantings of energy tobacco are the goal. But for 2016, most contracting farmers will be in the vicinity of the two extractors. The company expects to expand into Kentucky-Tennessee and Georgia-Florida in the near future. Tyton's basic varieties--which were derived from flue-cured breeding material--will be planted in all current tobacco-producing areas. Contracting to grow energy tobacco has not yet begun but will soon. No information yet on prices or what scale of production of the company is looking for, but all that should be available fairly soon too. It sure wouldn't hurt to get into company's database now. You can do that by sending an email to farmer@tytonbio.com. EDITOR'S ASSESSMENT:  I am not a tobacco farmer, never have been. But if I was, I would run to my word processor and get my name in the hat to grow this new type. What could be the down side, as long as the price is high enough to return production costs and a reasonable profit? You don't have to grow plants, you don't have to control suckers, and you don't need workers to hand harvest. Best of all, no curing is required, or at least not by you. The company will take care of whatever processing is needed after harvest. This seems like an effort with infinite promise. I urge you now or tomorrow or the next day to send an email (you should be able to do it by clicking on the address above) and get on the list. There is no obligation; you're just letting Tyton know you might be interested.--Chris Bickers  In other tobacco news: A new organic tobacco company begins accepting leaf deliveries this week. The two receiving stations for tobacco contracted by Swiss Organic Tobacco (SOT) will begin this week taking deliveries every other week. It will be on a rotating basis. The station in Wilson, N.C.--at R.C. Commodities, 1801 London Church Rd.--will begin receiving for SOT this Friday, September 12, while the one inKernersville, N.C.--W/S Tobacco Services, 1459 Brookford Rd.--will begin Friday, September 18. Each will take SOT deliveries on alternate Fridays till the market closes. Believe it or not, domestic cigarette sales and production are both actually slightly higher for the first five months of 2015 compared to the same period last year, says Will Snell, Kentucky Extension tobacco economist. "How can that be the case? After all, the extreme cold weather in many parts of the U.S. this past winter likely limited ...lighting up outside in midst of growing in-door smoking restrictions. Plus, cigarette price increases have been running four times the overall inflation rate."  Possible explanations: Lower gas prices might be impacting cigarette sales as convenience stores (most of which sell gasoline) sell an estimated 65 to 70 percent of smokes. The growth in electronic cigarettes may be waning as tobacco consumers prefer to get their nicotine from cigarettes. Or it might be just some inventory adjustment by the manufacturers or a short term anomaly? "At this point, it is unclear how this surprising short-term trend may impact the market for the 2015 crop and contract volume for 2016," says Snell. (This was derived from an article on the Council for Burley Tobacco webpage. For more, go to www.councilforburleytobacco.com and click on "News.")  Plenty of tobacco, not much demand. American Tobacco Exchange its fourth sealed bid auction of the season Wednesday afternoon, and sales remain in the doldrums. "All we saw till today was fair to low quality lugs," says Randy Brandon, manager of the auction. "We got a few cutters today but no leaf at all." Volume has been about what he expected. The quality of offerings should improve soon, he thinks, because of late rains and farmers' commitment to letting their leaf get ripe. Editor: Chris Bickers/903-9 Shellbrook Ct./Raleigh NC 27609/chrisbickers@gmail.com/ 919 789 4631

BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse. We hold sealed bid auctions We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com.

How burley bloomed in the Blue Ridge For an easy-to-read account of how burley came to east Tennessee and western North Carolina in the late 1800s, along with oral history interviews with some of the best of the older generation burley farmers, and much more, order The History of Burley Tobacco in East Tennessee & Western North Carolina by Billy Yeargin and Christopher Bickers. Send a check for $25 to Chris Bickers, 903-9 Shellbrook Ct., Raleigh, N.C. 27609. Questions? Contact Bickers by phone at 919 789 4631 or via email at chrisbickers@gmail.com.

FARMERS TOBACCO WAREHOUSE 209 Harding St., Danville, Ky. PH: 859-236-4932 Full-service burley warehouse Jerry Rankin, Owner   Call for information.

MORE FLUE-CURED GOING TO AUCTION

What is this crop worth: George Hunt (center) of the buying company Tobacco Rag Processors (TRP) questions a particular lot of flue-cured that was on sale at the Big M warehouse on August 19. Consulting with Hunt are Barry Garner (left) of TRP and Merion Haskins, a TRP contract buyer. The opening day offerings on August 25 at the Old Belt Tobacco Sales warehouse in Rural Hall, N.C., were all dry weather lugs with no body, says warehouse owner Dennis White. "The five buyers we had didn't put any in number one grades," he says. "But I think we did as good as the receiving stations." The best tobacco brought $1.35 to $1.40, while fourth grade tobacco brought $1 to $1.10 and fifth grades 50 cents to 65 cents. "I was satisfied," he says. Very few bids were rejected, White says. White is optimistic about the next round of leaf. "We have had some rain in the Piedmont since the lugs went into the barn." He sold 160,000 pounds at the sale and expects to sell more at his second sale today. Two sales a week in Wilson: Big M warehouse in Wilson, N.C., has started selling on Monday as well as Weednesday, says owner Mann Mullen. Sales have gone well so far. "We had fair prices, given the low demand for dry weather lugs of any types," he says. A few number ones and number twos sold well. Several farmers have expressed concern to TFN that Swiss Organic Tobacco, the new company buying organic tobacco in the states, has not yet begun accepting deliveries of the tobacco it contracted with them. Son Butler, a spokesman for the company, told TFN that he is confident that the station will open no later than early next week (the week beginning with Labor Day) and perhaps earlier. He insisted that the relatively late opening will not prevent the full delivery of the company's purchase. Less than half the Georgia crop has been marketed so far, and the best is still in the field, says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. "We have sold part of the first harvest and a little of the second," he says. "There has been a quality problem in the lower stalk, and we have very seldom seen number one grades." But the price at receiving stations is creeping up to $2.05. "We could use some rain now to help ripen the crop." Flue-cured is flourishing in the N.C. Piedmont. Grower Stanley Smith of King, N.C., says there were some rough moments earlier, especially four straight weeks with very little rain. "But now, the crop is good," he says. The quality will be above average, Smith thinks. "But we will have to see what the market is demanding. I have heard that the companies are grading awful strict." The balance of burley supply and demand is better now thanks to the weather this season, says Will Snell, Kentucky Extension ag economist. "The 2015 U.S. burley crop was projected [in the recent USDA crop report] at 157.3 million pounds (-26 percent), with Kentucky's estimate forecast to total 117.8 million pounds (-28 percent).  Beltwide, acres are down 18 percent, while the average U.S. burley yield is off 11 percent." This much smaller crop may be more in line with--or perhaps even below--anticipated U.S. burley needs in the current demand environment, he says. In Tennessee, the rain started up again in August and interfered with harvest on the burley farm of Tony Hutson of Bell Buckle, 50 miles south of Nashville. "I have been spearing and hanging this week," he said on August 20. "But I couldn't wilt it because of the rain. I had to hang it green to keep the mud off." Marketing is uncertain because he didn't contract this year. "I have been selling my tobacco at the [Farmers Warehouse] auction in Danville, Ky." It has worked out reasonably well. "I sold last year at the third-from-last sale. I averaged $1.80 a pound," he said. Dark fire-cured harvest is progressing well in Appomattox County, Va., says Bruce Jones, Extension tobacco agent. But there are still some dry sections in the county that need rain. "Most areas received a little rainfall [recently] but it was very spotty," Jones says. "Some areas only received a few tenths of an inch." Dewitt Gooden Editor's Note: Tobacco has lost two old friends. Earlier this summer, Dewitt Gooden, the longtime tobacco Extension specialist in South Carolina, died in Florence.He had a long career and was still trying hard in his Seventies to meet the informational needs of the state's farmers. He was known among agricultural journalists as a very resourceful specialist who could always find a way to make our stories come alive. I remember the first time I met him: I think it was in 1974. I was working my way through the University of Georgia writing press releases for the College of Agriculture, and I was assigned to interview a fellow named Gooden who had been (if I remember correctly) hired to be a soybean specialist in Statesboro. The interview was scheduled to last 20 minutes, but he had so many fascinating things to say that I think we talked for two hours. I remember thinking, "This is the 'countriest' man I have ever met in Extension, and that's saying something."  He will be missed, by many others besides me. I met Robert Shipley of Vilas, N.C., in the Eighties when he came to Raleigh to  Robert Shipley speak to the leadership of the Tobacco Growers Association of N.C., for which I was doing publicity. It was the start of a very valuable relationship for me, as over the years he could always tell me the mountain burley context of any tobacco question. And he was damned good company. For many years he was a vocational agriculture teacher in Watauga County, and he was also a successful cattleman, but what I always remember is his long tenure representing North Carolina on the board of the Burley Stabilization Corporation, then in Knoxville, Tn. To say that he had a long and full life would be an understatement: On August 8, when he was 103, he came out in a pasture on his home farm and helped his son and grandson unveil their new steroid-free, antibiotic-free, pasture-based beef herd. A week later, he passed on. It was hard to feel sorrowful for a man who did as many things for others as he did. I just hope people have as good an opinion of me when I am gone as they have of Bob. Chris Bickers / 903-9 Shellbrook Ct. / Raleigh NC 27609 / 919 789 4631 / chrisbickers@gmail.com How burley bloomed in the Blue Ridge For an easy-to-read account of how burley came to east Tennessee and western North Carolina in the late 1800s, along with oral history interviews with some of the best of the older generation burley farmers, and much more, order The History of Burley Tobacco in East Tennessee & Western North Carolina by Billy Yeargin and Christopher Bickers. Send a check for $25 to Chris Bickers, 903-9 Shellbrook Ct., Raleigh, N.C. 27609. Questions? You can contact Bickers via email at chrisbickers@ gmail.com or by phone at 919 789 4631. BIG M TOBACCO WAREHOUSE  1723 Goldsboro St. SW, Wilson, N.C.,  in the old Liberty Warehouse Greg Goins is the auctioneer at Big M Warehouse. We hold sealed bid auctions We promise  HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY  SERVICE We will be GAP certified  For more information, contact Mann Mullen at 919-496-9033  or the warehouse switchboard at 252-206-1447. Email: shrimpmann@embarqmail.com. FARMERS TOBACCO WAREHOUSE 209 Harding St., Danville, Ky. PH: 859-236-4932 Full-service burley warehouse Jerry Rankin, Owner   Call for information.