And then there was one … Whitley tobacco growers on the brink of extinction

As Dean Prewitt surveyed one of four barns last week in which about 9,000 lbs. of burley tobacco will hang to cure until mid-November, he was doing something that has now become a rarity in a county that used to count the crop as the backbone of its agricultural economy.

Prewitt and his brother Steve are virtually all that is left of the once proud, but now nearly extinct tradition of growing tobacco in Whitley County.

Being the "last men standing" may be good in a fight … but for a farmer, it can be lonely business.

"I’m surprised by what has happened," Prewitt said last week, only days out from the hot work of having housed his tobacco from a successful growing season. "Used to be, you could leave Williamsburg and drive to Corbin on this road and we could count 20 to 25 tobacco crops that you could see just along the edge of the road. Now they are all gone. It’s kind of sad when you think about it."

The Prewitt brothers are the only contract tobacco growers left in Whitley County. This year, they signed a contract with Phillip Morris, the nation’s largest tobacco company, to grow up to 10,000 lbs. Around Thanksgiving, they will haul their crop to Lebanon where it will be graded, weighed and they will be paid for their hard work.

It’s a ritual that has been going on at the Prewitt farm since 1948.

Raymond Prewitt started growing tobacco on the farm after returning home from a stint in the U.S. Army and service during World War II. Using the benefits of the GI Bill, he learned how to farm and tobacco soon became one of his main ways of earning money for the family.

Dean Prewitt is now part owner of Prewitt Farm Supply, just up the road from the family farm. His brother is a schoolteacher in McCreary County. The two have been growing tobacco, with the help of their father, since 1986. Raymond Prewitt is now 90-years-old and got out of the business two years ago.

Dean Prewitt said he and his brother’s sons grew tobacco on the farm as a way to have spending money for college for a few years.

"I came from a family of nine, so I can tell you we would have never had no decent Christmas without it when we were kids," Prewitt said. "Through the years, I’ve had extra things I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t have grown it."

"It’s sad to see it go. It seems like in this country, we are shipping everything to other countries," Prewitt said, referring to reliance now of cigarette companies on tobacco grown in South America. "The younger generation just ain’t going to do it. It’s hard work."

Prewitt confided that he had no plans to grow burley tobacco next year. He surmised someone would grow it on the farm, but now plans are definite. The move could leave Whitley County without a single significant grower.

How did it get this way

About 15 years ago, Whitley County farmers produced about 800,000 lbs. of burley tobacco, much of it high quality. Today, with only two growers left, it will produce a miniscule 10,000 lbs.

According to University of Kentucky Agricultural Extension Agent Phil Meeks, who serves Whitley County, what’s taking place in Whitley County with tobacco is indicative of what has happened with most of agricultural products nationwide.

"It’s a case of the bigger producers here in Kentucky are getting bigger and the smaller producers are just getting out of it completely," Meeks said. "There are other things people are turning to, other things to diversify, but none of them really, alone, replace tobacco."

Before 2004, tobacco growers were nearly guaranteed a certain price for their crop as part of a federally funded subsidy program. When public sentiment and corporate pressure to end the supports eroded, legislatures crafted a buyout program that paid growers for their "tobacco leases" with the government. Now, growers must negotiate contracts directly with tobacco companies who are much more demanding and fickle about the quality of the tobacco produced and the methods used to grow it.

Prewitt said Phillip Morris has restrictions on the type and amount of fertilizers and pesticides used. This year, the company is requiring a soil sample be submitted when the tobacco is brought to market.

"It’s a different ballgame now for sure," Meeks said. "It’s not a crop just anybody can pick up and take off with. There’s a lot more hoops to jump through."

Whitley tobacco growers started to fade away shortly after the buyout program was announced. Last year, the county had seven contract growers. Meeks said he was surprised this year when the Prewitt family ended up being the sole contract producers. A weakening demand for tobacco coupled with other factors made companies pickier about who they offered contracts to, experts say.

"Just a couple of years ago we had about 100,000 lbs. grown here. I thought some of those guys would hang on a little longer, so its pretty surprising to see it go down so fast," Meeks said. "There’s just no guarantees of anything anymore. There have been a lot of families that, once they quit tobacco, just got out of farming altogether."

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Whitley County farmers harvested about 180 acres of burley tobacco in 2001- the equivalent of 264,800 lbs. The same report last year did not even mention the county, lumping it in only with "combined counties" who grew too little to track individually.

The drop in the number of growers comes at a time when tobacco production is more efficient than ever. A report issued by extension agents tracking tobacco in Kentucky from 1919 through 1987 shows that yield per acre went from 840 lbs. all the way up to 2,125 lbs.

"A lot of people in our area had the skill to grow tobacco. That’s the big issue with all of this," Meeks said. "Families knew how to grow it. They’d grown it for years and then all the sudden, there is no guarantee of what price they might get anymore so they got out. Some people are turning to beef cattle now or vegetable productions, but none of these things will produce the kind of revenue tobacco produced."

"There’s definitely a lot of history and a lot of Whitley County heritage and culture that was based on tobacco, and that’s being phased out."

Meeks said some farmers have touted tomatoes as one crop that could provide the kind of profit equaling tobacco. But simply making the switch is not so easy.

"There’s a lot of room for error with tobacco that you don’t have with tomatoes. It would be a case of people having to start from scratch and totally relearn how to do things."

Bucking the trend, the only other tobacco grower left in Whitley County, Randy Jackson, decided to make this year his first attempt with the crop. He grew only an acre and said he plans to take his tobacco to auction in Danville. He decided to do so when he failed to get a contract with a tobacco company.

"They were just hard to come by this year," Jackson said. "They were cutting back."

Both Prewitt and Meeks said that’s a risk few are willing to take, and with good reason.

"I wouldn’t even think of growing it without a contract. They could give you anything for it," Prewitt said. "Or, they could send you back home with it if they didn’t need it. With a contract, if it is what they want, then you will get basically what they say."

Getting out

Though few farmers are able to simply switch from tobacco to other forms of agriculture with as much success, the county’s largest tobacco producer has apparently done just that.

And he’s exceedingly glad that he did.

Jim Clawson, whose 45-acre farm is situated along Mud Creek and Skaggs Branch in southern Whitley County, grew tobacco almost exclusively for about 37 years. He grew roughly 100,000 lbs. of the crop annually, but didn’t plant any for the first time in nearly four decades this year because he could not come to an agreement with either Phillip Morris or rival R.J. Reynolds on a contract. He said increasingly stringent quality control policies by the tobacco companies, and the difficulty of providing the contracted amount due to drought or flooding, was making the crop not worth the effort.

"The stress was tremendous. I’ve enjoyed this summer more than I’ve enjoyed any summer that I can remember," Clawson said. "I’m very happy with not growing it. I would probably never go back again to raising tobacco under any circumstances. I have more time to spend with my family now. You can rest more at night when you don’t have to worry about every storm coming across the ridge. A lot of good things have happened since I quit raising it."

Now, Clawson uses his farm to grown corn to fuel his feeder calf operation.

Clawson learned how to grow tobacco from his mother. He said it has been a major part of his adult life.

"This tobacco thing is just not good anymore. You can make some nickels doing it, but it’s the hardest work you will ever do and you aren’t going to get rich," Clawson said. "If you don’t raise all you are supposed to raise, you won’t make any money at it."

Clawson said his feeder calf operation looks like it will successfully replace tobacco as a major source of income. He is selling his tobacco equipment.

"It just got worse every year. I’m through with burley," Clawson said. "You can grow it without a contract, but it is a bad idea. You are probably going to go to bankruptcy court if you grow very much because you will have way over $100,000 tied up in it."

Prewitt said he sees how many would take that attitude about the crop he is the last significant producer of in Whitley County.

"It was 95 degrees or so when we were cutting it. It’s just a lot of work. People just don’t want to work like that anymore."