USDA projects U.S. Flue-cured Production Up 25%: Tobacco Farmer Newsletter Mid-July 2012

(Tobacco Farmer Newsletter) Could 400 million pounds of flue-cured be on the way? The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected on July 11 that flue-cured production in the U.S. this year will reach 432 million pounds, up a whopping 25 percent from the hurricane-damaged 2011 crop and nearly as much as the 488 million pounds projected last year before the hurricane. Planted area for harvest is four percent below last year at 199,000 acres. Yield per acre is forecast at 2,173 pounds, up 507 pounds from a year ago. By state, the USDA reported: Continued

Photo: Flue cure tobacco barn on Irwinville Farms, Rural Resettlement Administration project at Irwinville, Georgia, 1936. (Carl Mydans/FSA).