Henderson Daily Dispatch

Colored Tobacco Farmers Plan To Boost Leaf Price

Graham, Sept. 5.—A plan for boosting the price of their tobacco on warehouse floors has been adopted by a group of Alamance county Negro farmers, said J. W. Jeffries, Negro farm agent of the State College Extension Service. These farmers, he said, have produced superior leaf, and they will market it together, grouping their individual offerings together on the warehouse floor. Specified sales days for these farmers will be set from time to time. They believe that when the buyers see a fairly large quantity of good quality leaf together, a higher price will be offered than if the tobacco were mixed with various grades scattered over the warehouse. Jeffries said this group of 14 growers are taking pains to grade their weed carefully before marketing it, so that only really high quality tobacco will be offered in the group sales. Inferior tobacco will be sold at other times. This policy is in keeping with the marketing specialists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Jeffries continued. Buyers bid higher in order to get baskets of well graded leaf, and good grading also enables the grower to get the highest price that is paid for each grade he sells.