TOBACCO FARMER NEWSLETTER August II 2023 Wind-blown tobacco in a field outside Kinston NC. This picture is from a past crop, but the current crop has taken hard hits from wind and rain. 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.

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WHAT FARMERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF THIS YEAR'S CROP

 

Rising from the rubble: The research station in Princeton KY, noted for its tobacco research, took a direct hit from a tornado the night of December 11, 2021, and it was substantially leveled. There was some fear that the facility might not be rebuilt, but the University of Kentucky showed its commitment to tobacco research by spending the money needed to restore it. Shown above is one of two new fire-cured tobacco barns that have been built. Restoration of the tobacco facilities at the station is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Photo courtesy of University of Kentucky.

Harvest is in full swing in South Georgia, says Brant Clifton, Statesboro GA, who is growing 127 acres of flue-cured this year. “We had a real good start. It got really wet from May 15 to four weeks ago. On this farm, I had 12 inches of rain during that time.” There was some leaching, he says, and a little of the crop drowned. “Some wasn’t quite drowned, but it flowered out real short. It will make a crop but it won’t have much weight.” Now, South Georgia is on the dry side and could use a little water. Dodging a bullet on plants: There was a serious possibility of a critical shortfall in plants in Georgia, but Clifton, who buys his plants from a commercial provider, avoided it. “We had good plants all season. But there were absolutely no extra plants to be had.” Another casualty of tobacco’s troubles: Shiny McLimore of Owensboro KY has operated a commercial plant business for nine years. But a declining market is forcing him to close down Green Leaf Seedlings. “Business this year was down to a sixth of its peak,” he says. “There just doesn’t seem to be a need any more for commercial plants.” He produced burley and dark plants and sometimes vegetable seedlings. “I didn’t want to do this but it is like anything else in business—if it isn’t generating adequate income, you can’t continue it.” He is growing 11 acres of dark fire cured this year and may continue that. To the east, in the Bluegrass, burley grower Hoppy Henton of Versailles KY says, “The crop here looks great. It could be one of the best crops we have ever had.” The area didn’t get any flood damage, he noted (see below). The prospects are good for burley on Stonbach Farms in Tipton Hill NC near Asheville. “If we get one more good rain, this will be a good crop,” says Conner Stonbach. “We got it planted the first week of June. Then we went three or four weeks with no rain. Then we got four inches in the last two weeks. Since then, our loamy soils close to the river have done well. But the tobacco on our clay soils--at the top of the mountain--have grown slower. The tobacco there is knee high now.” The Stonbachs are among the last tobacco growers in mountainous Western North Carolina.   A holiday from burley: In 2022, Stonbach and his father grew exclusively Southern Maryland tobacco, thanks to a contract available from a small cigarette company in Kentucky. “The crop looked beautiful in the field, but we lost a little at harvest,” Stonbach says. “The buyer wanted the tobacco cut green. It got a little brittle, and there was some breakage. We had to be careful handling it.” Maryland doesn’t weigh as much as burley. “It is not a thick leaf,” Stonbach says. "Our yield was 1,850 pounds an acre, which is low compared to what we get on burley here.” Offsetting that was the fact that the buyer provided the seed and sent a truck to pick the leaf up. “We like Southern Maryland. We might grow it again.” But they went back to all burley this season because of an attractive contract from the burley cooperative in Springfield TN.   A very promising dark crop in the Black Patch saw its prospects dimmed after nearly a foot of rain fell in parts of Western Kentucky on Wednesday July 19, says Andy Bailey, Extension dark tobacco specialist for Kentucky and Tennessee. “There were reports of 11.4 inches falling in Mayfield and west,” he says. And that wasn’t all: The community of Cuba KY in the southwest corner of the state reported “ping-pong ball sized hail.” There was some wind damage also. One estimate suggested that 25 percent of the crop west of Mayfield and Murray had been heavily damaged. Looking forward, there will still be problems with crooked damaged stalks, which will interfere with sucker control and harvest. “If you are in this situation, you may need to forgo the standard manual dropline applications of contacts and local systemics, and just spray MH plus a local systemic over the top” says Bailey. “Unfortunately, you can damage crooked tobacco by just driving through it.” More projections from the July 12 Crop Production report from USDA. Following are the USDA's plantings projections of tobacco plantings in 2023, with a percentage comparison to 2022: FLUE-CURED: North Carolina, 110,000 acres, down four percent from last year. Virginia, 11,000 acres, down 5 percent. Georgia, 6,400 acres, up 6 percent. South Carolina, 5,400 acres, down 6 percent. United States, 134,300 acres, down four percent. BURLEY: Kentucky, 29,000 acres, up 3 percent. Tennessee, 3,000 acres, up 11 percent. Pennsylvania, 1,100 acres, down 15 percent. Virginia, 210 acres, down 8 percent. North Carolina, 110 acres, down 15 percent. United States 35,370 acres, up nine percent.   FIRE-CURED: 13,600 acres, down 16 percent.   DARK AIR-CURED: 3,700 acres, down 8 percent.   CIGAR FILLER: Pennsylvania Seedleaf (Only Pennsylvania plantings declared in this survey). 3,600 acres, up four percent.        SOUTHERN MARYLAND: (Only Pennsylvania plantings declared in this survey). 60 acres, down 40 percent.     ALL TOBACCO: United States, 193,180 acres, down four percent. DATES TO REMEMBER August 9. Bluegrass Tobacco Tour, 9 AM, at the Plant and Soil Sciences Field Lab, 2951 Agronomy Rd., Lexington KY. For more information: Call (859) 257-5110. August 10. Dark Tobacco Twilight Tour, 5:30 PM, at West Farm, Murray State University, in Murray KY. For more information, (270) 625-1560.

2023 TOBACCO CROP GETS A QUICK START But in Pennsylvania, Blue Mold poses a threat

 

What blue mold looks like on young tobacco: Yellow spots appear on the upper leaf surface while corresponding moldy growth can be seen on the lower leaf surface. Photo courtesy of University of Kentucky, In Pennsylvania, after a dry start, the rain has really opened up the last 2 ½ weeks, says Jeff Graybill, PA agronomy Extension educator. There have been some very heavy downpours. So far, the crop is growing well. Earlier, transplanting had been delayed during the dry period because farmers wanted to wait for rain. “As a result, some of the crop didn’t get set until the second or second week of June,” says Graybill. “That is late for us but not terribly late. This crop has every prospect of good yield and quality.”   But that bright outlook could be dashed by blue mold. “We started to see blue mold in the field about two weeks ago,” says Ben Green, manager of agronomy at Lancaster Leaf. Some degree of control can be obtained with the chemicals Manzate, Orondis and Presidio. “Whatever you use, it needs to be applied on a preventive basis,” says Green.  Pennsylvania farmers should have started spraying preventively three to four weeks after transplanting, he says. Blue mold is catastrophic for Connecticut broadleaf, which goes for wrapper in cigars. Blue mold causes holes in a tobacco leaf, said one source, and a cigar wrapper leaf needs to be perfect.   Pennsylvania is very diverse again this year in terms of the tobacco types it produces. Graybill estimates that the state is growing 3,500 acres of Pennsylvania seedleaf (the traditional type grown in this state), maybe 1,500 acres of burley, maybe 750 or 1,000 acres of Connecticut broadleaf and 500 acres each of Maryland and Green River. Among those, Connecticut is up some while Burley and Maryland are down, he says. There was demand for more production of Pennsylvania seedleaf and Connecticut broadleaf, says Graybill, but growers couldn’t be recruited to grow it.   In North Carolina, burley has largely disappeared from the northwest corner of the state. “To my knowledge there are only three tobacco growers left in this area, and none are growing burley,” says farmer Robert Wurth of Lansing, N.C., near the point where N.C., Virginia and Tennessee come together. “All three are growing Connecticut broadleaf, although not a lot.” The Connecticut crop is growing very unevenly, says Wurth. “It’s been too dry at some times early on, then extremely wet to the point of drowning at other times. The strange weather has affected fertilizer uptake and seems to have caused problems with bug control.” The worst pest problem so far has been the yellow cucumber beetle. There have been quite a few of them, but no flea beetle damage so far, which is a great improvement over last season. “If the weather will fair up, and remain fairly dry over the next couple of weeks, we may end up with a fairly good crop,” Wurth says.   In Tennessee, there are grounds for optimism, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. “We are off to a great start. The whole crop was set out on time or a little early, and it looks real good now.” Earlier, the greenhouse season went well too, and the supply of plants seemed adequate. “Everyone with a contract seems to have gotten enough plants to fill it,” Richmond says. The crop is progressing well in the field and Connecticut broadleaf growers will begin harvest next week. The only problems Richmond has seen so far have been some black shank in cigar wrapper fields and a little target spot popping up here and there…Plantings are about the same as last year in Tennessee, says Richmond. “I think we had a small increase in burley plantings, maybe 100 acres. Dark planting may be down because of contract cuts, and Connecticut broadleaf may be down a little also.”   Tobacco looks good in the Black Patch. A few areas in Western Kentucky had big storms last Saturday and Sunday, says Andy Bailey, Extension dark tobacco specialist for Kentucky and Tennessee. “Three and a half to six inches fell in some areas. There was some water damage. We saw some ‘flop’ or wilting. There is not much to do about it—you just have to leave it alone.” But this didn’t affect a big part of the crop. Generally, all the tobacco in the Black Patch looks good, says Bailey. It went to the field in a timely manner. “A few fields were planted June 30 but most of our tobacco had been planted by June 20”…Harvest of Connecticut broadleaf in the Black Patch began on the eleventh. “It is a short season crop but that is still early,” says Bailey.   A dark grower near Owensboro KY reports that there has been some strong wind and rain in his vicinity recently. “There was very little rain in May and June, but then it blew up hard in the past few weeks. Still, the tobacco is standing up and has a good color.”   In Kentucky, 10 percent of tobacco was blooming and the condition in the field was mostly good through July 10, according to USDA-NASS. The whole crop is believed to be set now. In S.C., 57 percent had been topped by that date while in Georgia, 77 percent had been topped and nine percent had been harvested.   A near six percent drop in flue-cured volume for the season? That’s what USDA says in its first production projection of the year. By state, flue-cured growers are projected to produce: N.C.—233.1 million pounds, down 6.5%. VA—27.6 million pounds, down 4.9%. GA—13.44 million pounds, up 8.8%. SC—10.8 million pounds, down 6.8%. All U.S.—284 million pounds, down 5.8%. Other types will be projected in USDA’s August survey.     DATES TO REMEMBER   o   July 19.  NC State Tobacco Field Day, 9 AM to 12 PM at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station, 2811 Nobles Mill Pond Rd, Rocky Mount, NC. Lunch will be provided. o   July 25 Corn-Soybean-Tobacco Tour, 8 AM, at University of Kentucky AREC, 1205 Hopkinsville St., Princeton KY. o   July 27. The 2023 Virginia Southern Piedmont AREC Field Day will be held at the research center at 2375 Darvills Rd., Blackstone, VA. Registration begins at 4:30 PM with dinner at 5, followed by tours of research field trials. An on-farm tour of research plots will be held the following day. It will begin in South Hill at approximately 8 AM and head west toward Danville. Registration forms can be found at tinyurl.com/3cwssfj5. More infor-mation? Call 434 818-5538. o   August 9 Bluegrass Burley Tour at Spindletop in Lexington KY. o August 10 Dark Tobacco Twilight Tour, 5:30 PM, at West Farm, Murray State University, in Murray KY.

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WEATHER DERAILS WHAT WAS A "BEAUTIFUL" GEORGIA CROP

Wind-damaged tobacco in South Georgia, June 22. Photo: J. Michael Moore.

First item of business: Harvest has begun. A few farmers in Florida, South Carolina and north Carolina reportedly began gathering this past week.

Weather derailed a great crop: The tobacco was “beautiful” in Georgia and Florida during the state tobacco tour in mid June, says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. “But then we got 10 to 12 days in a row where it rained. And it was a hard rain too--it came down two or three inches at a time and the drops were the size of cups.” The rain contributed to erosion and some damage to the roots. Some tobacco was drowned. “That which wasn’t has come back reasonably well,” Moore says.

But hail and wind caused even worse damage in some areas, especially the wind. “It is almost impossible to machine harvest tobacco which is badly wind-blown.” There is not much of an alternative. “Our growers are not set up for hand harvesting.” One grower told Moore that he set his windblown tobacco back up and topped it and suckered it, all at the same time. It cost him $750 per acre. “And then the next storm that came through blew it over in the other direction!” says Moore.

So what are the prospects in Georgia/Florida? Moore is staying optimistic that a quality crop may still be achievable. “But it is clear that some contracts won’t be filled,” he says.

How much acreage was planted in Georgia? Moore isn’t sure since planting ended prematurely due to a shortage of plants. “Once we ran out of plants, we quit,” he says.

The crop in South Carolina looks good so far, says William Hardee, S.C. Extension tobacco specialist. It got off to a bit of a slow start because of a cool spring, but it has really taken off the last two weeks. Farmers are finishing topping, and a few have started harvesting. One sour note: There are significant levels of tomato spotted wilt in some areas. “On average, I am seeing levels of 10 to 15 percent but in some isolated cases, it has been as high as 40 percent,” says Hardee. “Weather conditions have also been ideal for target spot development. Growers are making fungicide applications and hoping to start cropping soon to promote air circulation.”

There is a wide range of maturity in tobacco across North Carolina, says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. “In the East, some farmers have started barning, while in the West some are still laying by. But  in general this crop looks pretty good, especially considering some cooler temperatures we had earlier in the season.” One problem may have arisen because of the cold: “Target spot has really flared out, and it is as serious as I have seen it in my time in North Carolina,” he says. Control measures you can use leave something to be desired. There is a cultural practice--harvesting to let the air in the canopy and let the leaves dry—and a chemical application of the chemical Quaddris. But the reentry period can be a problem.

Field day gets rained on, but central Tennessee crop is in good shape: Rob Ellis, Research Center Director at the Highland Rim AREC in Springfield, says the crop on the center grounds is in excellent shape. "We started topping last week," he says. "We began setting out the first week of May. We got rains that divided the cr0p into two parts. But both did well. Even the later planted got plenty of rain. We finished setting the second week of June." It was getting a bit dry late in June, but then an inch and a half of rain fell around lunch time during the Tobacco, Beef, and More Field Day at the center on June 29." Ellis called off the afternoon activities because of the downpour but didn't feel too bad about it. "We had growers in our county who really needed it." Now, he rates the local crop at least average and maybe a little above average.

 

The center in Springfield is doing tests on four different types: burley, dark air-cured, dark fire-cured and Connecticut broadleaf. All four types are in the field now, with Connecticut the farthest ahead. “We thought if we could get it out early, we might be able to ‘catch’ the humidity and get a better color,” Ellis says.  

Crop progress according to USDA-NASS and Extension (as of July 3) (Flue) GA--62% topped; SC--58% topped; (Burley) KY--97% planted; TN--94% planted, 5% topped; NC--48% planted.

 

DATES TO REMEMBER

• July 11 & 12. The 2023 SC Tobacco Tour begins with supper in Georgetown at 6:30 PM on July 11 at the River Room Restaurant, 801 Front St. The tour will begin on July 12 at 9 AM in Georgetown County. It will include lunch at the Pee Dee REC and end in Sumter County around 3:30. Register at form.jotform.com/2313 44605453148. More information? Call 843-222-8701 or email hardee@clemson.edu.

• July 19. 2023 NC State Tobacco Field Day, 9 AM to 12 PM at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station, 2811 Nobles Mill Pond Rd, Rocky Mount, NC. Lunch will be provided.

• July 27. The 2023 Virginia Southern Piedmont AREC Field Day will be held at the research center at 2375 Darvills Rd., Blackstone, VA. Registration begins at 4:30 with dinner at 5, followed by tours of research field trials. An on-farm tour of research plots will be held the following day. It will begin in South Hill at approximately 8 AM and head west toward Danville. Registration forms can be found at tinyurl.com/3cwssfj5 .More information? Call 434 818-5538.