JUST around the corner here in Loubejac the Pomès family are busy in the fields, with the help of their friends, collecting the tobacco plants.
Tobacco cultivation starts with the initial planting of the seeds in trays in mid-March, towards the middle of May the job of planting around 20,000 plants in the field begins.
This year it was cold with fleece jackets a requirement, but two weeks later the plants needed watering as temperatures rose.
As the tobacco plants grow the job of picking out weeds and other flowers is an ongoing task, and to keep mildew at bay two lots of treatment were sprayed on the plants.
At the end of July each plant will begin sprouting a tall, flowery stalk that has to be chopped off, if it is left it damages the quality of the tobacco later on.
Another two weeks pass and then the tobacco is collected from the fields using tractors, flat-loaders and a gathering machine, as well as willing volunteers from surrounding farms.
The volunteers are usually other farmers and their families who also grow tobacco, and know how difficult the job is of hanging the plants from wires strung across barns and poly-tunnels to dry the leaves (continued after images).
It takes approximately two months for the plants to dry and then each leaf is separated by hand and split up into different categories based upon their nicotine content, this is done through experience and the shape of each leaf.
A final check is undertaken before the leaves are pressed, again often through brute force, into 20 to 25kg bags before being sent to a tobacco factory in Sarlat.
By mid-January the final tasks are complete.
For more than 80 years the family Pomès has been growing tobacco in various quantities, but this is set to be the last year.
After financial support was cut by the EU the local co-operative stepped in to provide help, but next year this assistance will be stopped as well.
There is one other farm in Loubejac, here in the south of the Dordogne, that produces tobacco and another in the nearby village of Villefranche du Perigord, it seems unlikely they will continue next year either.
It is also a far from lucrative opportunity either, for all this work José Pomès, and his daughter Laurence, will receive €3 a kilo.
Related website: France Tabac
Comments
3 responses to “The last tobacco harvest”
The end of an era, certainly. But somehow I don’t think they’ll miss it. Very hard work for little recompense. It’s just a matter of finding another crop to take its place; not easy with European agriculture in such a mess!
Hi Roger, must admit it’s a tough job and here’s hoping other opportunities are available.
All the best, Craig
Here in the Lot, tobacco is being replaced by saffron. Tobacco used to command a high price, in the days before health warnings, so our farmers looked for a valuable crop to replace it. Picking the flowers by hand is back-breaking but the price makes it worth it, and le safran du Quercy is big business here now.