Donald Mixon (left), his son, Phillip, and his father, Jack, check tobacco moving on a conveyor belt at their farm in Waresboro, Ga. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bales revolutionize tobacco crop sale

New packaging method, catching on in south Georgia, easier to handle, store than traditional leaf sheets

Web posted August 3, 1998

Associated Press

WARESBORO, Ga. -- Some flue-cured tobacco growers are delivering their leaf in a new package this year -- 800-pound bales that are starting to replace the burlap-wrapped bundles.

It's a pretty big deal for an industry that has deep roots in the culture and economy of south Georgia.

For most of this century, the arrival of the tobacco buyers each summer and the lilting chant of auctioneers was a major event in rural communities. Tobacco earnings paid for new tractors, put grits and eggs on the breakfast tables and made quarters jingle in church collection plates.

With the industry facing suits and anti-smoking legislation, the future of tobacco -- one of Georgia's top cash crops -- is fraught with uncertainties.

Nevertheless, the industry is moving on, and baling is seen as a smart economic move. Bales are easier to handle and store than sheets of tobacco, which have been delivered the same way since the crop was first grown in Georgia.

``The industry has been looking for a long time for some other way to package this tobacco,'' said Julian Rigby, owner of the Bright Leaf Warehouse in Alma.

Mr. Rigby expects to sell 12 million pounds of tobacco this summer, 3 million to 3.5 million pounds of it in bales.

``I can see where it will help,'' he said. ``You're flooring one package where you normally would have four. I can get four times as much in the warehouse, and it cuts labor by two-thirds.''

The switch has put pressure on growers to invest between $10,000 and $30,000 in new equipment for a crop that may not have a future.

As an incentive, cigarette companies have promised to pay 3 to 5 cents per pound more for baled tobacco -- and some are actually paying up to 25 cents more, Mr. Rigby said.

For the tobacco-growing Mixon family of Ware County, to bale or not to bale was not much of a question.

``We're in the tobacco business,'' said Donald Mixon, 51, of Waresboro, eight miles west of Waycross. ``If anything is new we want to know. If there are better, more efficient ways, we want to know.''

Tobacco is a Mixon family tradition. Mr. Mixon's 20-year-old son, Phillip, and his 71-year-old father, Jack, also share in running the farm.

Despite uncertainties -- tougher restrictions on tobacco products and suits by states seeking to recoup the money spent on treating smoking-related illnesses -- the Mixons bought a $24,000 baling machine and a $6,000 conveyor to feed it.

With 212 acres of tobacco, the Mixons are major growers, known for innovation. They were the first in their area to put in a center-pivot irrigation system for tobacco. A few years ago, they built greenhouses to grow tobacco plants.

``If you don't keep up with the times, you're standing still,'' Mr. Mixon said.