Tennessee in terms of tobacco production

[El Presidente]

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2024/11/11/tennessee-tobacco-production-rankings-dark-fire-burley-tobacco/75775697007/

Tennessee in terms of tobacco production

Tobacco farming in the U.S., mainly concentrated in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, in order of production, is on the decline due to changing habits, overseas competition and other factors.

The number of U.S. farms growing tobacco shrank 95% from 2002 to 2022.

But there is a bright spot for growers in the Black Patch Region, which covers Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky and is responsible for nearly all the country's Dark Fire Cured Tobacco production for cigars, pipes and snuff.

Tobacco is still a high-value crop, even if China, India and Brazil now lead global production.

Robertson County, in northern Tennessee on the Kentucky border, has long been a leader in tobacco farming — especially Dark Fire Cured Tobacco.

Robertson County recorded $87.4 million in tobacco sales in 2022, more than 14% of total crop sales, though there are fewer acres devoted to it than any other crop.

Dark Fire Cured Tobacco is a different plant from the dry-cured Burley tobacco grown outside of the Black Patch Region and used for cigarettes.

For the 2024 crop year, the Robertson County recorded 293.14 acres of Burley tobacco, a light dry-cured tobacco primarily used in cigarettes. It also had 725.40 acres of One-Sucker tobacco, a dark air-cured heirloom variety used for snuff, chewing tobacco and cigar blends, and 2,215.39 acres of Dark-Fired.

That's according to the 2021-2022 "Burley and Dark Tobacco Production Guide," a cooperative effort of the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech and NC State University, which also says domestic Burley tobacco, primarily grown for cigarettes, has declined along with cigarette smoking.

What to know about tobacco

• The following stats do not distinguish between the different types of tobacco grown in the US and worldwide.
• The U.S. is a leading tobacco producer, but China, India, and Brazil dwarf it in terms of production.
• U.S. farms harvested about 431.6 million pounds of tobacco in 2022, down from 1.74 billion pounds in 1997.
• The number of U.S. farms growing tobacco shrank 95% from 2002 to 2022. Over those 20 years, Tennessee saw a 97% decline in tobacco farms, from 8,206 to 241.
• The average Tennessee tobacco farm was 4.4 acres in 2002. By 2022, it had grown to 51.4 acres.
• Tennessee farmers harvested 12,700 acres of tobacco in 2022, producing nearly 34 million pounds.
• In 2022, North Carolina and Kentucky accounted for about 77% of domestic tobacco production.
• Tobacco brought in $86.8 million in cash receipts for Tennessee farms in 2022.

 

 

[David8406]

Liked this one…and only a few hours drive from me.