Everything Old Is New Again

There was an interesting article in the news today about how tobacco growing is starting to make a comeback here in Wisconsin. I say making a comeback because it used to be a pretty big crop here. Note that Edgerton has the highly un-PC Tobacco Heritage Days. This is because it was grown all over this area. From the Wisconsin Historical Society:

One of the earliest and most enduring of Wisconsin's specialty crops, tobacco was first sold commercially in the 1850s. Tobacco boomed during the Civil War when the secession of the south created a strong market for the crop. By the 1880s, tobacco was grown across southern Dane county and in Rock and Jefferson counties. A second area of production developed in Vernon and Crawford counties in the 1900s. Tobacco prices fell during the Depression but the Agricultural Adjustment Act helped to solidify the market by restricting the number of acres in production. Although tobacco cultivation was not native to Norwegians, they soon became strongly associated with it due to the large number of immigrants who worked on tobacco farms.

My buddy Kias helps out a friend of his at tobacco harvest time each year out in Jefferson county so the practice has never gone away completely. So what is happening now?

For the first time, Wisconsin farmers are growing Burley Tobacco, a plant used mainly for cigarettes.

"This crop here has paid for many, many bills for farmers around here. Your taxes, your college educations, your school supplies for kids, cars, your insurance ... many, many things," said Jim Lund, a tobacco farmer.

And now, the Lunds hope the 2 acres of Burley tobacco is another new beginning.

After discovering lower levels of cancer causing chemicals in Wisconsin's tobacco crop, the Phillip Morris Company is investing test plots for Burley tobacco in Dane and Rock counties.

The Lunds said the success of the crop could change the farming landscape in the area.

"You will be seeing a lot more fields this size grown through Cambridge, Deerfield, Edgerton, Stoughton. Many, many local areas around here will be growing this crop again, and you'll be seeing many families sticking into it again," Lund said.

"I've talked to my banker about it and he said for the past thirty years, tobacco was a dying crop," said Dennis Lund, a tobacco farmer. "But every year, there's a new avenue that opens up, and all of a sudden, we're right back at it again."