Tobacco plants as many other plants have foes. One of them is tomato spotted wilt virus, which is transmitted by small insects called thrips. Over the past few years, it has infected 15 percent of the plants.
Researchers found that this year, as much as 30 percent of plants statewide have shown symptoms of the disease. Many plants have died and yields have been reduced.
Tobacco specialists reported that unsteady spring weather and diseases have left Georgia’s tobacco harvests harming, as tobacco farmers prepare to harvest what could be their worst yields in decades.
Earlier this spring, farmers had one of the toughest times in recent memory just trying to get the tobacco crop firmly planted, said J. Michael Moore, a tobacco expert with UGA Cooperative Extension.
In this spring repeated rain inundations of five and six inches across south Georgia, where the crop is grown, washed away planting beds, chemicals, plants and delayed planting all together.
Farmers eventually planted 15,000 acres by May 1, Moore said. Then came more rain followed by a hot, dry June. And at the end the diseases hit — hard.
This year, in Georgia damages have increased due to the weather. Moore added: “We know there is a relation to the type of weather we had and this disease pressure. But at this point we don’t know exactly what that relation is.”
Due to the excessive rain, two other diseases called target spot and white mold also caused problems for farmers.
Researchers reported that of the 15,000 acres planted 1,700 acres were lost either to extreme rain or disease. Due to weather- and disease-related problems, tobacco yields are expected to average 1,700 pounds per acre or 400 pounds per acre less than last year. This is the lowest average yield since 1973.
However, Georgia tobacco farmers are expected to harvest 23.8 million pounds of tobacco this year, or 29 percent less than last year. Harvest will start in a week, a month behind the typical schedule.
The number of tobacco farmers continues to decline in Georgia because of extreme rains and tobacco diseases. For example today, only 200 farmers actively grow the crop.
Farmers now can grow as much tobacco as they feel they need to fill contracts they get directly from tobacco manufactures or marketing companies. For decades, South Georgia has been a place to get sweet-flavored, aromatic tobacco, the kind manufacturers add to tobacco blends to ameliorate taste.
But unfortunately delivering quality tobacco this year will be hard for Georgia, only because the bad weather.
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Tobacco Info
Tobacco is an annual or bi-annual growing 1-3 meters tall with large sticky leaves that contain nicotine. Native to the Americas, tobacco has a long history of use as a shamanic inebriant and stimulant. It is extremely popular and well-known for its addictive potential.
Nicotiana rustica leaves. Nicotiana rustica leaves have a nicotine content as high as 9%, whereas Nicotiana tabacum (common tobacco) leaves contain about 1 to 3%
A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sumatra, Philippines, and the Eastern United States.
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it may be in the form of cigarettes smoking, snuffing, chewing, dipping tobacco, or snus.
Cigarettes are smoking products consumed by people and made out of cut tobacco leaves. Cigars are typically composed completely of whole-leaf tobacco. A cigarette has smaller size, composed of processed leaf, and white paper wrapping. The term cigarette refers to a tobacco cigarette too but it can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis.
Facts on Tobacco
Smoking Quotes
I tried to stop smoking cigarettes by telling myself I just didn't want to smoke, but I didn't believe myself.
- Barbara KellyI kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since.
~Arturo ToscaniniTo smoke or not to smoke: I can make of either a life-work.
~Mignon McLaughlinThere's a lot of people who, a cigarette is about the only vacation they have.
~Trey ParkerGood food, good sex, good digestion, good sleep: to these basic animal pleasures, man has added nothing but the good cigarette.
~Mignon McLaughlinWatching the smoke dance out of a cigarette is like watching a girl dance out of her dress.
~D.H. MondfleurTobacco, divine, rare superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all panaceas, potable gold and philosopher's stones, a sovereign remedy to all diseases.
~Robert BurtonCoffee and tobacco are complete repose.
~Turkish Proverb
The federal government projects to push tobacco companies to sell their cigarettes in packages that do not carry any characteristic brand designs focused at appealing smokers to purchase their product.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled in the mandate letter he not long ago provided to Health Minister Jane Philpott that he likes the project to be one of her “major priorities.”