BENEFITS OF CLEAN TOBACCO 



Preparing clean tobacco for market will not only help protect the tobacco 

 program but will bring economic benefits to the grower as well. Last season, 

 for instance, a farmer in eastern North Carolina offered 11 sheets of tobacco 

 for sale, 9 of which received no grade because of sand. Under the inspection 

 service, a producer can clean up the lot and receive a grade with price support, 

 The North Carolina farmer cleaned 234 pounds of sand from his tobacco, offered 

 it for sale carrying a P3L grade, and realized a profit of $468.53. 



EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON GRADE CHANGES 



USDA, in cooperation with State Departments of Agriculture, farm organi- 

 zations, and Cooperative Extension Services in the major flue-cured producing 

 states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, has 

 launched an educational program to explain the advantages of marketing a 

 cleaner product. Farmers are also urged to contact their local extension agent 

 for more information on cleaning up tobacco. An inexpensive method of elimi- 

 nating some of the sand and dirt is simply shaking the cured tobacco before it 

 is placed on burlap sheets. 



The revised grade standards will be in effect for a trial period of 1 year, 

 If farmers do not take steps to market their tobacco in a cleaner, more 

 acceptable condition, the problems will be reassessed at the end of the 1977 

 flue-cured season and stronger action will be taken to assure the overall 

 quality of tobacco for sale. 



