s 



Jeaf markets 



Cured binder leaf is hid for at farmers' barns, a mar- 

 keting pattern that began over a century ago. It is 

 standard procedure for buyers to familiarize themselves 

 with tobacco growing in the fields. They know, there- 

 fore, where and how much they will bu\' and at what 

 range of prices. The average price of the 1970 Broadleaf 

 crop was 65 cents per pound; that for the same year's 

 Havana Seed was 59 cents per pound. 



Generally, most of the Ha\ana Seed crops grown in 

 the state goes to the warehouse of the Conn-Mass To- 

 bacco Cooperative at Hol\oke, Massachusetts. (This as- 

 sociation of Connecticut Valley binder tobacco farmers 

 was organized in 1949.) The tobacco undergoes a few 

 weeks' forced "sweating," an essential fermentation that 

 continues the curing process and mellows the leaf. A 

 considerable part of it will go to manufacturers of scrap 

 chewing tobacco. 



Shade-grown tobacco is produced almost entirclv for 

 the cigar manufacturers and the packer-dealers who 

 own the farms. Connecticut-grown wrapper leaf was 

 valued at $4.00 per pound for the 1970 crop, the costliest 

 tobacco of domestic growth. That was its farm-sales 

 price. By the time the finest of the wrappers reach the 

 cigar factories the cost will have more than trebled. 



upply network 



The cost of equipment, maintenance, materials, sup- 

 plies and services required in the production of Con- 

 necticut tobacco ranges in the tens of millions of dollars 



13 



