Tobacco Crop Withstands Drought

Conrado Olvera, armed with a tomahawk and a spear, moved in a decades-old rhythm. This annual farm ritual is being played out again in Kentucky tobacco fields, as farm workers like Olvera get down to the laborious job of cutting and housing the state's burley crop. It has been a long, hot and dry summer on Kentucky farms, but tobacco generally has fared better than corn and some other crops. Dry weather, however, is continuing. And burley experts say tobacco that hasn't been irrigated might need one more good rain to assure a profitable year.