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<br />Farming Family Giving Up .T©bacco Business
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<br />t was barely 7 a.m., but Danny
<br />��,,,,
<br />Oakley had been awake for two
<br />ho u--s.
<br />Walking along a row of bright -green
<br />tobacco plants, he turned around to
<br />pick up two leaves that had fallen
<br />on the ground.
<br />Story "I'm keeping my
<br />CLAUDIA AssIs change," the 48-
<br />year -old Oakley t.
<br />said, carefullyplac-
<br />Photography ingtheleavesback tz':
<br />ELLEN OZIER into a cart.' That's k ,.
<br />the bark." like leaving money in
<br />It was already 76 degrees, and the air was
<br />heavy with moisture. The Oakley family of Per-
<br />son County had started another workday in their
<br />last harvest season. After four generations as
<br />tobacco farmers, the family is getting out of the
<br />business.
<br />A week before the tobacco auctions opened in
<br />Roxboro, family members and hired workers
<br />were priming — pulling the first leaves from the
<br />bottom of the stalk It is the most labor - intensive,
<br />muscle- wrenching part of the tobacco harvest, he
<br />said.
<br />Tb reach the bottom leaves, the pickers almost
<br />have to touch their toes. And every leaf oozes a
<br />gum that leaves hands sticky and wet.
<br />fe �. " Tobacco is tough, it is nothing but
<br />gh some farmers are
<br />rd and resilient as a
<br />Falk, many, like the
<br />we tired of toiling in
<br />ess that nets more
<br />and less profit each
<br />year
<br />a weed," Oakley said.
<br />Even though some farmers are as die -hard and
<br />resilient as a tobacco stalk, many are tired of toil-
<br />ing in a business that nets more criticism and
<br />smaller profits each year.
<br />Tobacco farmers are always trying to catch up,
<br />Oakley said.
<br />According to the State Department of Agricul-
<br />ture, North Carolina has lost more than a third of
<br />its tobacco farms since 1992, when there were
<br />17,625 farms. The latest agricultural census regis-
<br />tered 12,095 farms in 1997, but officials estimate
<br />that there are now fewer than 11,000 tobacco
<br />farms throughout the state.
<br />Tbbacco is still the state's top cash crop, howev-
<br />er, accounting for nearly 14 percent of North Car-
<br />olina's $7.2 billion farm cash receipts last year.
<br />Greenhouse and nursery products are next, at 13
<br />percent, with cotton a distant third at 4.8 percent,
<br />according to the department.
<br />"There is no crop that I know of that has [more]
<br />return than one acre of tobacco has," said State
<br />Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham, who is
<br />retiring in January after 36 years in office. Rev-
<br />enues from tobacco have allowed people to go to
<br />other enterprises, he said.
<br />"I still believe in a future for tobacco."
<br />Not the Oakleys.
<br />The two brothers, Danny and Tbd, and their
<br />father, Johnnie, own seven acres and lease 28
<br />more in Rougemont, on the Person - Durham coun-
<br />ty border. Three years ago, they farmed 75 acres.
<br />The Oakleys have tried to diversify. They grew
<br />a little corn, they grew wheat to rotate with tobac-
<br />please see OAKLEYS Al2
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