A very considerable decrease in the production of tobacco in the Old Belt of Virginia and North Carolina seems certain for 1923, according to crop reports sent in from 782 local units of the Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association to its Raleigh headquarters last week.
A very heavy cut in the tobacco crop of Virginia for 1923 is indicated by the fact that the figures from the signed statements of hundreds of local association secretaries show that 7 per cent of the total Virginia crop is already cut 25 million pounds short of the 1920 total and unless plant and weather conditions improve materially it may be short 50 million pounds in weight compared with 1922.
The Old Belt of North Carolina, according to the locals of the tobacco cooperative, reports decrease in acreage of 3.6 per cent over last year. From Raleigh west and north farmers report the most serious plant conditions they have ever known. Eastern North Carolina and the South Carolina Belt report a slight increase in average but uncertain weather conditions. The unprecedented shortage in farm labor and the continuous migration of negro tenants to the north will probably further decrease the production of tobacco in these counties for the coming year.
More than 90,000 tobacco farmers are now members of the Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, according to the county of contracts made last week in Raleigh headquarters and the association continues to hold its position as the largest of the American commodity cooperatives. Several new costumers are buying the redried tobacco of the association, which are finding a steady market at association prices.
Charlotte county, Va., which grows both bright and dark tobacco after a canvass of the situation reported on May 21 under the signature of C.R. Lacey, county secretary of the tobacco cooperative, that a 25 per cent reduction in acreage for the county would take place. Halifax and Pittsylvania, Virginia’s biggest bright tobacco counties, report that in spite of plans for increased acreage, plant shortage and the late season will reduce the crop far below that of 1922. The Sun-Cured Belt of Virginia reports that only 70 per cent of the 1922 acreage will be set out.
“Eastern North Carolina reports sufficient tobacco plants except in Nash, Halifax and the northern counties where a shortage similar to the Old Belt has reduced the acreage, while the southeastern counties report that dry winds have seriously damaged plants. The South Carolina belt is the only territory reporting any material increase in acreage, but here as well as in some of the Eastern Carolina counties, where increased production seemed probable, the unprecedented shortage of farm labor and the continuous migration of negro tenants to the north is proving a serious handicap to production.
There were 782 local units of the Tobacco Growers Cooperative which reported crop conditions on farms where 166,917 acres of tobacco were grown in 1922.
From the front page of the Reidsville Review, May 30, 1923
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