Tobacco growers turn to new methods of marketing

 

(Southeast Farm Press) Direct contracting with a manufacturer or leaf dealer has been the dominant method of marketing American tobacco in this century.
But there is a small, but growing trend for tobacco farmers to seek out alternative marketing options when they can't — or don't want — to sell at contract delivery stations.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the last few seasons in the number of what I call 'secondary' leaf markets,“ said Rick Smith, a leaf dealer in Wilson, N.C. “I consider this development not only desirable but inevitable.”
Smith said these markets provide a method for absorbing the excess tobacco left over after contracting has absorbed all the leaf it wants. Continued