SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — It’s harvest time in much of the nation’s tobacco patches, and this year’s yield is likely to be among the smallest in at least a decade.
Farmers are expected to produce 726 million pounds of tobacco, the Department of Agriculture said. That’s up 1 percent from 2010 but down nearly 28 percent from a decade ago when more than 991 million pounds made its way into cigarettes and other products.
Tax hikes, bans, health concerns and social stigma have driven a decline in cigarette sales, but the drop is less stark outside the U.S. Growing markets such as Asia are offsetting worldwide declines and contributing greatly to U.S. exports.
U.S. tobacco production has fallen sharply since the 2004 tobacco buyout, which ushered in a free-market system to replace a Depression-era price-support program. The venerable program was reeling from steep declines in tobacco demand due to anti-smoking efforts. Some tobacco companies also have set their sights on crops overseas, where tobacco often can be grown less expensively.
