Thursday, October 1, 2009

Fall harvest: Tobacco





It could have been 1950 in that warehouse, the only thing painfully missing was a fast talking auctioneer. There are still a group of men who inspect the tobacco brought in from the various farms around NC who, once they accept the leaf, place it on a conveyor that passes under an impressive machine that determines the weight and moisture content and then spits out a price per pound to be paid. As advanced as some systems have become, this is one area where one still needs to see, touch and smell before they buy. The smell is like no other. When I was a kid, it was on the breeze constantly. Today, I still can catch a whiff from time to time if the wind/humidity/time of year all come into alignment perfectly. This part of the industry is steeped in tradition and ritual. So far removed from the decisions made in rooms high above street level that placed the industry in the cross hairs. Good, bad or ugly, this remains an integral part of the economy on which no less than 37 states (yes, they all issued debt to be repaid from payments from the MSA to balance their budgets - including California) and our federal government depend. Oh the tangled webs they weave.

4 comments:

jonlowder said...

Great post. Brings back memories of my grandpa taking me to the North Davidson area where the tobacco farm he grew up on was located. He took me in what I thought was a small barn, but there was no mistaking the smell of tobacco curing. I loved that smell.

Yarddawg said...

You should have seen my grandpa chasing after me with a stick when I once sent a trailer full of tobacco to the barn for stringing and hanging. I also included a snake I killed in the trailer. When the crew at the barn started screaming once they found that snake, I knew I was in deep,deep doo-doo. He never caught me but I never pulled that trick again.

Jami Borden Prince said...

Love,love,love the smell of tobacco. The worms, not so much.

Debbie said...

I love the pics. Randy and I actually got to see tobacco being picked and harvested this weekend, over near King, and we felt like we'd just experienced another North Carolina "FIRST." I LOVE LIVING HERE!