The Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 either bought out growers or freed them from quotas and restrictions. The end result: fewer tobacco growers planting more tobacco acres. Just four years after the buyout, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported flue-cured farms had increased in size by 50 percent, and burley farms […]
Florida and Georgia witnessed the United States’ first black shank appearance in 1915. Having crept into Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina in the 1930s, black shank could be found in almost every flue-cured tobacco state by the year 2000, causing losses ranging from 1 to 2.5 percent per year in North Carolina alone. Are these […]
For most tobacco growers, cultivating tobacco without the use of chemicals is like starting a fire without matches. Sure, you could do it. But why would you want to? Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company (SFNTC), a North Carolina-based manufacturer committed to the production of premium tobacco products with additive-free tobacco, contracts with an increasing number […]
By Chris Trlica The meteoric rise of genetic engineering technology, combined with tobacco’s relatively easy cultivation and propensity to flower, has launched tobacco into the spotlight as one of the most common plants for engineers to study and manipulate. Thanks to researchers, some tobacco plants can glow, others can have their flowering started or stopped […]
By Julia Ellis When weather conditions are ideal for fungus growth, tobacco farmers now have one more tool to protect their plants. In early 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency registered Presidio fungicide for tobacco use. The advent of Presidio means farmers can use a suite of fungicides that attack pathogens like black shank and blue […]
Why more growers are turning to electronic recordkeeping—and the options they might consider By Emmy Wade Every business owner should keep good records, and tobacco growers are no exception. In order to run a successful operation, financial statements, receipts and tax-deductible expenses are a weekly—if not daily—concern. In our electronic age, an increasing number of […]
