Source: NCDA&CS, 2/29/16


Four NCDA&CS employees participated in the 2016 N.C. State Tobacco Short Course recently in Raleigh. The educational program is aimed at helping participants better understand all facets of tobacco production and marketing.

The following employees took part in the course:
• Chris Blackmon, research technician at the Border Belt Tobacco Research Station in Whiteville.
• Daniel Overcash, regional agronomist for Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly, Surry, Union and Yadkin counties.
• Jacob Searcy, regional agronomist for Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Martin, Pamlico, Tyrrell and Washington counties.
• Daniel Williams, research technician at the Central Crops Research Station in Clayton.

The four were among 44 participants who received two days of classroom studies on everything from greenhouse production of seedling plants to curing leaf ready for market. The course also included a daylong session on grading of flue-cured tobacco.

Instructors in the short course included N.C. State extension specialists in agricultural economics, agronomy, biological and agricultural engineering, crop science, entomology and plant pathology. Bobby Wellons, tobacco training specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, taught the tobacco grading session, which was offered for the first time at the request of growers who had concerns about the grading of their 2015 flue-cured crop.

The 2016 N.C. State Tobacco Short Course was conducted by the North Carolina Tobacco Foundation, in partnership with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University and the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina. The program was funded by the North Carolina Tobacco Research Commission.