Tobacco tried and still true

By BILL HOLLERAN, Marketing Matters editor

Kentucky farmers don’t produce as much tobacco as they did before the quota buyout, but tobacco is still a mainstay in the fabric of Kentucky agriculture. The Paschall family of Murray has diversified its farming operation since the end of the tobacco quota system, but tobacco has remained the yardstick by which their other crops are measured.

Mitchell, Jana and son Kody are living proof that full-time careers in production agriculture are still possible with hard work and determination. Mitchell was raised on his family’s farm in Murray, where they raised row crops and tobacco. “I remember going with Granddaddy when I was as a kid to the tobacco barns. He would always feel of the leaves first thing when he went into the barn…. Fire curing tobacco is really more art than science, and it’s hard to tell someone how to do it. It’s just something you grow up knowing about. We use sawmill slabs and sawdust to set the fires, and you really have to know what you’re doing. You can cure it too slow or too fast. If we cut tobacco on Monday, we would normally fire it on Friday. The first two fires dries it out, and the last two puts the finish or shine on it,” Paschall said.

Paschall also said they have found it better to cut the dark and leave it on the ground to wilt and then come back, spear it and take it out of the field before it sunburns. “Science still hasn’t come up with a magic formula for fire curing dark tobacco. There’s really an art to it,” said Paschall.

Paschall said there is a big demand for dark tobacco this year with contract prices at around $2.50 per pound compared to $1.75 for burley. Paschall contracts his dark tobacco to Conwood and his burley with Philip Morris.

This changing demand has the Paschalls building new curing barns for dark-fired tobacco and putting more of their crop in dark than burley. This year the Paschalls are doubling their dark tobacco production to nearly 200,000 pounds compared to 25,000 pounds of burley.

The Paschalls are also producing tobacco seed for Workman Tobacco Seed of Murray — a large tobacco seed supplier in western Kentucky. “Tobacco seed production is very labor intensive, often requiring nearly 1,000 hours of labor per acre,” said Jana. “We’re raising about 3 1/2 acres of tobacco for seed this year,” she said. Migrant workers collect the pollen, and then it’s screened and dried out for later use. Once dried, the pollen is brushed on to each of the flowers on the plant. When the plant is pollinated and the seed pod forms, the pods are removed and the seed is collected.

In addition to tobacco, the Paschalls raise 20 acres of seedless mini-watermelons for Farm-Whey Produce and 350 acres of soybeans and 80 acres of field corn not to mention a commercial tree nursery, a greenhouse where bedding plants are sold to local garden centers, boxwoods, and mums for local sales. Tobacco transplants are also raised for their own use and for sale to local farmers.

“We started the nursery in 2001 and also grew cantaloupes for the Green River Produce Cooperative when we were thinking about what to do after the tobacco buy-out. After the co-op dissolved, Farm-Whey came to us and asked us to grow for them,” said Paschall.

Paschall said his trees and produce have been competitive with his tobacco revenue. “Our only down-time is in January, and that’s when we attend nursery trade shows across the country to market our trees and shrubs,” said Jana.

Although most of the co-ops that were operating in the late ’90s are no longer operating, they did give committed growers like the Paschalls the help they needed to get started in the commercial vegetable and nursery businesses. Commercial growers like Paschall have been able to maintain contacts with the buyers that previously purchased product from the co-ops.

“Farming is hard work, but there’s nothing more enjoyable or rewarding,” said Jana.

This article first appeared in the Aug. 27, 2008 edition of Marketing Matters. To read Marketing Matters in its entirety, click here.