Increasing yields while minimizing costs will be a major goal for farmers in 2025. This is especially important for the new year with its dismal forecasted commodity price projections.

Flue-Cured tobacco has one of the few bright outlooks for 2025 when comparing Pitt County row crops. Flue-Cured tobacco’s brighter outlook is due to a world-wide shortage of tobacco outside of China of 4% and also North Carolina’s estimated 31% production decline in 2024. Tobacco remains an important row crop in Pitt County and this crop ranks third in the state in terms of farm income.

Choosing a variety is one of the first decisions that a tobacco farmer makes in January. The tobacco breeding program at NC State University which is under the direction of Dr. Ramsey Lewis is committed to releasing varieties which are high yielding with high disease resistance. It is estimated that 40% of the tobacco varieties that are planted on tobacco farms in North Carolina were developed at NC State University.

Tobacco varieties have changed drastically over the past several decades. Today’s varieties are more compact in stature and higher yielding. Tobacco harvest, which used to be completed by Labor Day, can now last for up to 13 weeks. This is due to the fact that the production practices that are now used keep the crop in a vegetative stage of growth. Today’s tobacco crop flowers an average of 16 days later when compared to the varieties which were planted in the 1950s. They also yield about 30% more than those varieties which were once popular on the farm.

The yields of flue-cured tobacco in the United States plateaued in 1981 with the introduction of the tobacco variety, K326. In the year 2000, tobacco yields began to increase by an average of five pounds per acre per year. Recently, many tobacco farms have experienced a decline in yield per acre but this decline is not likely due to the genetics found in today’s varieties.

The two most important components to consider when choosing a tobacco variety is its value per acre and its disease resistance. Tobacco variety information is available through the Tobacco Official Variety Testing Program which publishes an annual report comparing tobacco varieties. A copy can be obtained visiting on-line the NCSU Tobacco Portal or by calling 252-902-1704. Last year, the top five tobacco varieties in Pitt County were CC 145 (21%), NC 196 (19%), and GL 365 (16%) CC 143 (11%), and NC 960 (9%).

MANAGING FOR BLACK SHANK ALONE

Black shank resistance should be one of the most important traits to be considered when choosing a tobacco variety for 2025. This disease has been the top disease on the farm in Pitt County for the past several years and it must be managed using high resistance varieties, long rotations, and proper chemical selection.

There are two varieties which are expected to be popular in 2025 for those farmers who only suffer from black shank. These are NC 1226 and NC 960. These varieties are unique due to the fact that they possess 3 different forms of black shank resistance. These forms of resistance are referred to as the Ph gene, Wz resistance, and polygenic resistance. The Ph gene has immunity to race O of black shank and Wz resistance which was taken from the same species of tobacco that was grown at the Lost Colony known as Nicotiana rustica. Wz resistance contains a broad level of resistance to all known black shank races. Polygenic resistance is a term used to describe resistance that is found in multiple genes in the tobacco plant.

NC 960 is the most popular flue-cured tobacco variety in North Carolina being grown at 22% of the state’s acreage. This variety has been described as being similar to K326 in its growth habit but with a much improved disease resistance package. Similar to NC 1226, NC 960 has excellent black shank disease resistance with its resistance being bundled in the three forms previously mentioned. This variety was the highest yielding tobacco variety in the 2024 Tobacco Official Variety Test.

Based on grower reports in 2024, NC 960 has the capability to produce 27 leaves. As is often the case with later maturing varieties, its taller height makes it vulnerable to wind damage. Therefore, for those producers who are considering planting this variety, it is recommended to be topped down to 22 leaves to reduce the risk of being blown over. NC 960 is believed to be a good fit for fields which have a history of both black shank and Granville wilt particularly if Granville wilt has not been observed for a number of years.

In terms of leaf color, NC 960 should be expected to produce a darker style of tobacco and must be allowed to ripen fully in the field before harvesting. Only a small amount of seed will likely be available for farms in 2025.

NC 987 IS NEW FOR 2025

One new variety for 2025 will be NC 987. This variety provides disease resistance similar to NC 196 and is likely to be more suitable in fields with lower disease pressure.

FIELDS WITH BLACK SHANK AND GRANVILLE WILT

Based on field research that was conducted by Dr. Daisy Ahamada, Extension Plant Pathology Specialist at NC State, there are only three tobacco varieties that are rated as being highly resistant and resistant to black shank and Granville wilt. These are CC 145, CC 603, and GL 365. Two of these varieties, CC 145 and GL 365 represented 37.5% of the tobacco planted acreage in 2024. The tobacco variety, CC 145 was the most popular variety in Pitt County in 2024 representing 21.2% of planted acreage.

According to the 2024 Tobacco Official Variety Test (3-year average), among the varieties which were rated highly resistant and resistant to black shank and Granville wilt, GL 365 outyielded CC 145 by 65 pounds per acre and CC 603 by an average of 106 pounds per acre.

It is believed that Pitt County tobacco growers chose CC 145 and GL 365 due to their higher disease resistance to black shank and Granville wilt. Although Granville wilt has not been apparent over the past few years, Pitt County has a long history of this disease. Once Granville wilt has been diagnosed in a field, this disease will always be a threat to tobacco. Longer rotations without tobacco in such fields has resulted in less Granville wilt being seen.