FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s burley tobacco crop has suffered this unusually wet summer to the point that perhaps as much as a fourth of it could be lost.

Bob Pearce, University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food and Environment extension tobacco specialist, said the rains that fell on much of the state the first week of this month caused a great deal of damage. “A lot of crops really wilted down when the sun came back out and some of them are not going to recover, and those that do recover are going to have yields reduced, as well. So, it’s not a pretty sight,” he said.

Pearce added the amount of damage varies by region, with the south-central portion of the state hit the hardest, which could mean 40-50 percent of the crop there having damage. Closer to central Kentucky, the situation is less severe but losses could still reach 20-30 percent. Then, there are areas with little damage.

“It varies considerably, but the number that I have given previously and I’m kind of sticking to right now is of all the burley in Kentucky, we’re probably looking at a 25 percent reduction in the volume of pounds produced,” he said.

And that could mean big money losses based on last year’s burley crop, which came in at nearly 152 million pounds and for which many producers received in the neighborhood of $2 per pound. Ironically, the latest USDA planting report from anticipated the largest burley crop in nearly a decade, but many of those intended acres were likely not planted because of weather, said Pearce.

Adding insult to injury are some disease problems beginning to pop up. Pearce said much blank shank is present, along with cases of target spot found earlier. “We’ve seen a lot of different things out there, just not anything as devastating as what the weather itself has done,” he explained.

The crop was likely compromised anyway, as wet weather hampered planting. Many farmers were planting into the first week of July. But it may be the late crop that does the best.

At this point in the season, Pearce said the best thing that can happen for this crop is to get an inch of rain a week and a good curing season. Last week, the state experienced the hottest week of the year along with spotty storms, leaving some areas experiencing dry conditions.

“Right now with this kind of heat wave we’re in and, relatively speaking, as dry as it is, that puts a lot of stress on these tobacco crops out there because all the roots are close to the surface,” he said. “You have to maintain an adequate water supply if you start out wet. That’s absolutely critical.”

Brian Furnish produces approximately 250 acres of tobacco with his brothers in central Kentucky. He said he has been lucky so far in that area, but he knows much of the crop is in trouble.

“The unknown of what happens between now and September is critical because this tobacco is used to water, so if the rain cuts off or we get very little rain and it gets really hot, some of this tobacco is really going to suffer because it doesn’t have a root system under it,” he said.

Furnish added it is a possibility farmers will have to irrigate some of this crop in spite of all the rain throughout the spring and summer. “We’re lucky, we can irrigate – but statewide or Belt-wide, very few people irrigate tobacco,” he said.

He talked to some producers who lost 80-90 acres each but even without the flooding rains it was likely to be a “short” crop in weight anyway. “It was still going to be a light crop because it has grown so fast with all the moisture, and usually when a crop grows fast it doesn’t weigh very much,” he explained.