tabacco farming

im thinking about raiseing between 3-8 acers of tobacco. ive been sweet corn farming for many years now so i got 2 farmall 140s and a 364 international (35hp)and a 340 international with frontend loader. and i got all the equiment i need and i got a 1 row tobacco planter. with the soild ferilizer attachment and the attachment to put water out with the plant. but do i need to get a license or something from the goverment or anything like that to raise tobacco? also who do i need to contact to sell it to??? Is there anything eles important i need to know?

No license needed, its perfectly legal crop. As to marketing, since the quota buyout anyone can raise and market tobacco. Almost all sales are conducted under contract so you would definitely want a contract in hand before you started purchasing supplies. I'd check locally with your county agent to get the contact info for the receiving station in your area.

I grew up raising Flue Cured and now I'm raising Burley. I have a contract with a large tobacco company which you will need if you want to sell it. Do some research online and look at curing. Tobacco production requires a lot of labor and it is expensive to buy the curing equipment and fuel for Flue Cured. Burley is air cured, so it is cheaper to cure, but it is much more labor intensive at harvest time.

But for air curing what do u do? do u just hang it up in a cool, dry place? would it be more profitible for 3-5 acers of tobacco, just to air dry it or to invest in the other method?

You'd have a hard time paying for flue cured equipment on that small of an amount, but Burley is usually grown in small amounts. The university of Kentucky has good plans for curing structures and I'm building a variation of one of theirs. Where are you in NC? you can also google the NC Burley production guide. It has a lot of good info. How familiar are you with tobacco production? If you'd like you can PM me and I'll send you some info.

im in the burlington area. thanks for all yalls help. im pretty familar with planting and raiseing tobacco. but i know nothing about spraying it? where do u get chemicals that is needed? and i know very little about curing it.

If you have much tobacco grown around you the local co-op type fert, chem, seed dealer will have the chemicals you will need.

Talk to people around you and see what chems work in your area.

Also, find out what variety of plants do best in your area. Here in KY the dark tobacco test plots for UK are one county over from me but thier results differ from what grows well here.

If there is very many tobacco producers around you, go to the local co-op and talk to some one there who know about tobacco. Yes, he is going to try to sell you stuff, but he has a vested intrest in you doing well. For what the usda or extention service pays thier experts, they could make 3 times more raise'n tobacco if they knew as much about it as they want you to think. (kinda the whole those that can, those who can't, teach thing)

You will need to order your plants not too far past the first of the year, my order has to be in by the end of Feb. If you are going to be doing most all the labor your self, figure on $1,000 to $1,300 for inputs only (not equipment and cure'n) For 8 acres, if you are going to do an out door cure'n sturcture you will need a pretty big one. If there is much tobacco around you, it is going to be hard to find that much barn room. If you are going to do it most all your self, do your self a big favor and do not set it all the same day! (btdt)
Good luck and e-mail me if I can help you with anything else.
Dave