A Burley Photo Essay

A Year in the Life of a

Tobacco Grower:

A Burley Photo Essay

   Tobacco is a controversial subject these days.  There's not muh question any more that there are some pretty severe health risks related to the use of tobacco products.

   While they don't catch the full brunt of it, tobacco growers aren't immune to the criticisim.  There are serious philosophical questions about the ethics and the community economics of growing the crop.  But that issue is addressed elsewhere.  Wendell Berry, a farmer and writer from the adjoining Henry Co., in his essay entitled "The Problem with Tobacco" in the book Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (Pantheon Books, 1992) addresses these issues head-on.

   For the most part, a tobacco grower is a family farmer who is the latest in a series of generations that have grown the crop.  He (and sometimes she) puts in long hours of some hard, physical labor, often with several members of his family working beside him.  While marketing issues have recently taken away some quality incentives, most growers still take a good deal of pride in their crop.

   So, take a trip through some of the Owen County countryside, and meet some of these tobacco growers.  See what they do over the course of a production year.

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