Tobacco farmers must social–distance while harvesting

Sept. 2, 2020 | Miasha Lee

There are two types of tobacco, historically, that have been grown in Connecticut: broadleaf and field tobacco, which is being harvested in Enfield.
Reminder Publishing photo by G. Michael Dobbs

ENFIELD, CT – Tobacco farming is one of the long-standing industries in Connecticut. People have been growing it here since the 1640s.

Connecticut has a reputation of growing some of the best cigar tobacco not only in the country, but in the world.

CEO Edward W. Kasheta of Kasheta Farms in South Windsor, CT was born into agriculture. His family has been farming tobacco since 1905 when his great-grandparents bought the farm.

Though the way of harvesting remains the same, Kasheta is encouraging as much social distancing as he can during COVID-19. But in reality, it’s hard to social distance everyone in this particular field.

Plant pathologist and chief scientist Dr. James LaMondia of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Valley Laboratory in Windsor, CT said, “Tobacco is a very high-cost, laboring-intensive crop. Due to COVID, we have fewer people working. Even when it was 95 degrees or hotter in the fields, we were out wearing our masks doing what we needed to do to be safe, yet still able to get the crop.” He went on to say, “In all those instances, it just makes what is a tough situation a little bit tougher.”

Tobacco farmers start early in the spring with the tobacco seeds they saved from the year before. They put them in seed beds or use them in trays to germinate. Then a week or two before Memorial Day, farmers start transplanting them to the field. From there on it’s a case of cultivating and resetting the plants that didn’t make it. They bud the tobacco, top it, wait 10  to 15 days and begin the harvest. This year the mortality rate was high on resetting because of the drought, which Kasheta said was the worse drought they’ve ever had in Connecticut, with a lot of irrigation to be done.

President Andrew Urbanowicz of the Conn-Mass Tobacco Growers Association said, “Tobacco in our states is produced for wrappers and binders for premium cigars on the unique glacial soils of the Connecticut River Valley and provides jobs for many locals in the region, either directly through work on the farms or through purchases of goods and services by farms.” Urbanowicz continued, “The crop also serves to provide enough income to farmers so that farmland in the valley can remain open and not be converted to development, helping maintain much open space in the region.”

There are two tobacco types that historically have been grown in Connecticut: broadleaf and field tobacco, which is being harvested in Enfield. It’s a stock cut tobacco farmers grow, they break the tops off the plant to ripen then cut the stocks at the ground level to wilt and bring the whole plant into the shed.

For most growers their plan is to stagger their planting so they have time to cut it and not try to harvest it all at one time because they wouldn’t have the labor and facility space to do that. Growers plant a little bit over time from May right through the end of June with the idea that as the tobacco ripens, they can cut it and get it into the shed to cure. Then its another eight weeks for curing in the sheds. Depending on their size and most of the work crew they have, growers may cut a half an acre a day or a couple acres a day and go through their farm. As the tobacco ripens, it fills out and gets thicker looking like a solid field of tobacco. The growers cut the stalks so the tobacco lays over and let it wilt in order for them to work with the crop without breaking the leaves because they want them to be unblemished and unbroken. Once it wilts down, the growers pick it up and either spear it or attach it to a stick of lath. They usually put those on a rack and carry them to the sheds where it’s naturally air cured.

Nationally, Urbanowicz mentioned the hobby of cigar smoking at home and collecting cigars has seen some growth as folks have had more time on their hands due to COVID moving work home for so many.

In the meantime, Urbanowicz thinks it is too soon to say how much this will impact the market for their wrappers and binders.

“From my knowledge,” he added. “Farms have been doing their best to follow the guidance provided by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture with respect to COVID and are harvesting their crops while being mindful of those guidelines.”

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