Our county has a long tradition of raising tobacco and actually raising at least 89% of our quota each year. With that being said, the buyout was seen with mixed results across the county.
In several one on one meeting, producer meetings and Q & A at the ‘mom and pop’ grocery store, we advised producers of their options.
Did we lead them to the correct choice, only they know that answer? But we did keep the producers and the local lending agencies informed of the latest and most accurate information.
Beyond the buyout era we have speculated about for many years. Our county is expanding in production or at least maintaining production at 3.5 million pounds. In the spring we brought back our floatbed check-up program with much success. We handed out 50+ Tobacco Insect and Disease control info packets that designed for our county. We still have work to do to improve the quality of seedlings in the county, but we have made several improvements.
My goal is increase germination by 20% and plants to the field by 20% each year, realizing we will have set backs each year. Early intervention is necessary to reach our goal. A catastrophe is how we get our list for the next year.
We estimate that if we help to save 15% of 1,000,000 plants, that would be 150,000 plants saved for an estimated savings of $7,350 per year.