Does anyone raise tobacco anymore in Kentucky
- Thread starter mrhotdice
- Start date
When I was a kid, raising tobacco was how we made a living. It was hard work but I miss it. Looking back, there was a whole culture built around raising and selling a crop of tobacco. Tobacco use, in excess, is very dangerous but IMO tobacco has been overly villianized. I'd much rather my family encounter a guy who is smoking a Marlboro over a guy that has just soaked 3 Buds while driving down the road.
Here in Shelby County you see a lot of small plots but nothing like when I was a kid and all across the state you would see massive fields.
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I took a drive out through Bracken and Robertson counties last summer, just to show my son where some of his great grandparents lived. Saw some white burley tobacco, but nothing like years ago.
I don't see how anyone can grow it except for very large producers with better marginal returns.
With price supports in 1990, market price on average was around 1.75 / lb. Plus pretty much anything that was not sold at auction went to the pool.
Now from what I've seen with tobacco company contract production. Prices may hit $2/lb while the costs such as labor, machinery and fuel have jumped up significantly.
Plus they can reject your leaf even on moisture content. Which I can see reasons why with some farmers that use to run their bales of tobacco through the car wash before it hit the scales.
Though I've noticed Amish and Mennonite farmers have pick up production since the buyout.
With price supports in 1990, market price on average was around 1.75 / lb. Plus pretty much anything that was not sold at auction went to the pool.
Now from what I've seen with tobacco company contract production. Prices may hit $2/lb while the costs such as labor, machinery and fuel have jumped up significantly.
Plus they can reject your leaf even on moisture content. Which I can see reasons why with some farmers that use to run their bales of tobacco through the car wash before it hit the scales.
Though I've noticed Amish and Mennonite farmers have pick up production since the buyout.