Better times finally arrive for Kentucky and Tennessee Burley growers

Burley tobacco growers inKentucky and Tennesseeare reaping some of their best paydays since plunging into the free market, according to a story by Bruce Schreiner for Associated Press.

The growers are capitalizing on what were said to be tight leaf supplies and a quality crop that bounced back from an early-season drought.

Will Snell, a University of Kentucky agricultural economist, was quoted as saying that growers who had endured a tough growing season had been rewarded with Burley prices near or at $2 per pound so far during the marketing season.

Those prices nearly matched the prices Burley fetched in 2004, the last year growers sold their crop under federal production and price controls dating back to the Depression era.

The full story, published on line in The State Journal is at: http://www.state-journal.com/local%20news/2012/11/20/tobacco-farmers-see-rebound-in-leaf-prices.