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Difficult Season for Tobacco Crop

All summer, the tobacco farmers have carefully tended their tobacco crop, which they uses to pay the rent and to purchase goods not produced on the Farm.

But unfortunately down the Connecticut River Valley it's a view of field after field leaved or already harrowed. Allan Zuchowski, a tobacco farmer in Hadley, said: "It's like a phantom town. It's like a spaceship came and took all the farmers away."

As it is know tobacco leaves don’t like the cold and wet weather. And farmers didn’t left the tobacco fields, but they were attacked by a very cold and wet summer. For example, Zuchowski has lost seven acres worth. He explained: "It pays the bills. It replaces the equipment. It keeps up the buildings."

But another farmer, Wally Czajkowski, has lost 30 acres. "It's just a big hole in the middle of our season," he said. It's leaving a big break in Czajkowski's pocketbook. His tobacco crop makes up a third of his income. But both farmers said that it's a mixture of factors that have led to the ravaging ruin. On this summer, four diseases attacked the crops, and the cold and wet weather made it too difficult for the plants to fight them off.

One virus many tobacco farmers are dealing with leaves spots all over each leaf. When treated, the spots become holes, and the leaf becomes useless. "Tobacco is a job that requires many hands and many hours and those hands are useless now," added Zuchowski. "There's going to be a lot of unemployed farm workers this drop," said Czajkowski.

Both Zuchowski and Czajkowski are now paying close attention to their other crops, except tobacco. They must now build on those crops which would compensate their loss of income. However, but both said that they're not giving up on tobacco. "We'll just try again next year," said Czajkowski.

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