Traditional regional methods of growing tobacco going away with buyout

From the MiamiHearald.com - N.C. tobacco farmers trying new variety in buyout market

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina's shrinking ranks of tobacco farmers are placing their hopes on new competitiveness from a drop in the price of U.S. flu-cured tobacco and the state's status as a the top producer. Max Denning, 47, a fourth-generation farmer from Benson who grows flue-cured tobacco in five counties including Johnston, Wake, and Harnett, has some advice as tobacco farmers prepare to sign contracts for this year's growing season. For growers bold enough to keep planting leaf in the uncertain world of free-market tobacco farming, he says to get bigger, get better or get out.