Picture of the day - August 23, 2005

Cutting Tobacco On An Abingdon, Virginia Farm

Back in June we featured a photo of a newly-planted patch of tobacco on a farm that is located inside the beautiful town of Abingdon, Virginia. Today's picture shows the very same tobacco patch while two farmers are cutting and "spearing" the crop. If you look closely at the left side of the picture you'll be able to see the guys hard at work. Tobacco has earned a well-deserved reputation as a major health risk, and thankfully its use is on the decline in the United States. But it wasn't always that way... The cultivation and use of tobacco in the Americas began long before Europeans set foot on new-world soil. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, the local "Indians" offered him dried tobacco leaves as a gift. He took the plant back to Europe and before long it was growing all across the continent. After England established a sustainable colony in Virginia, tobacco quickly became the primary cash crop. It became so valuable that it was used as money - colonists could actually exchange dried tobacco leaves for food, clothing...pretty much anything that was bought and sold at the time. The tradition of growing tobacco as a primary cash crop has continued for hundreds of years. The Abingdon, Virginia area and rural Washington County have historically been home to numerous tobacco farmers, many of whom receive a considerable percentage of their yearly income in December and January when they sell their precious crop. A bad growing year or the loss of a crop when a barn burned to the ground was a major loss that could and did literally put some farmers out of business. In the mid-1900's, the detrimental effects of tobacco use on a person's health began to come to light. By the 1990's, virtually everyone in America was well aware that tobacco caused lung disease, lung cancer and many other life-threatening afflictions, but still they continued to smoke and chew it. Tobacco is a very addictive drug, and most people find it very difficult to quit using it. An entire industry has been created to supply patches and chewing gum designed to help smokers quit. The tobacco industry was dealt a stunning blow when many U.S. states began suing the big tobacco companies to recoup some of the health care costs they have expended (and continue to expend) on tobacco-related medical procedures. Juries responded by awarding huge monetary judgments to the states, and the states have used that windfall for many things, not just health care. Today, ordinances are in effect all across the nation regulating where tobacco can be used and by whom, and they are getting more restrictive all the time. Even the tobacco companies themselves realize there isn't much of a future for selling tobacco in America. They have responded by diversifying into other industries and expanding the marketing and distribution of their tobacco-related products in other countries where the health risks aren't so well-known. What does all this mean for tobacco farmers in Abingdon and Washington County, Virginia? First of all, if they choose to continue growing tobacco as a cash crop, they'll have to do it without the government's help because the federal tobacco price support program has been terminated - the farmers now have to negotiate directly with the tobacco companies. In the end, they will probably have to settle for lower prices for their crops due to the ever-declining demand for tobacco. In a way, it's sad to see such a long and deeply entrenched tradition as the cultivation of tobacco fade into history, but it's truly a good thing for the overall health of all Americans. My dad struggled for most of his adult life with his own inability to quit smoking, and tobacco-related health problems plagued him for many of his later years. He was able to summon the willpower to quit only after his doctor told him simply that if he didn't quit he wouldn't live very much longer. But it was too late - the damage had already been done and he eventually succumbed to several tobacco-induced illnesses. The saddest thing about dad's life-long smoking habit is that my wonderful mom recently found out that she had emphysema...and she has never used tobacco in her life. Not even once! Second-hand smoke had invaded her lungs for decades, and now she is paying a price she should never have to pay. But mom loved dad with all her heart and she has no regrets. She knows what he went through in his attempts to quit smoking and she looks forward to seeing him again some day in heaven - with both of them smoke-free.   Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles