Day said growers began planting on April 20, “on a limited basis,” following a killing frost during Easter weekend. As of Tuesday, said Day, about 15 percent of the total tobacco crop was in the ground.

“If we don’t have any big rains,” said Day, or other unforeseen weather, “we’ll basically be done in a couple of weeks.”

He expects about 3,000 acres of tobacco to be planted in the county this year, which is down from last year. But, Day said, “we’re a little limited on plants” from the greenhouses.

Due to the high cost of planting in greenhouses, he explained, owners only plant what they know will be grown or sold. He also said growers had experienced “a few germination problems. Nothing bad,” Day said, but enough to make the supply of plants tight.

He said growers would contract again with the same individual companies that they worked with last year. There will be a little more pesticide residue clean (PRC) flue-cured leaf this year, Day said.

PRC tobacco allows some chemicals to be used in the fields, unlike organic tobacco, which is pesticide free. But, growers are limited in their choices of chemicals. They also receive a premium for growing PRC or organic tobacco.

Growers in Person County contract with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. in Oxford in order to sell their organic and PRC leaf.

Day reported that the burley tobacco crop this year will likely be “down a little” from last year’s acreage. Last year’s burley crop totaled about 200 acres, which was double the amount of burley grown here in 2005.

Regarding other crops, Day said that about 70 percent of the corn crop had been planted and farmers will begin planting soybeans either late this week or early next week.

He said corn acreage would be up about 1,000 acres this year, due to high market value. The extra corn acreage will be taken from bean acreage, Day said.

Growers are planting more corn because the demand for ethanol fuel has driven prices up, Day said, but, as with all things in life, the higher corn prices will also translate to higher meat prices.

The Extension director quipped that, although the price paid for corn would be higher, growers might find themselves paying “$25 for one steak” as a result.