A Harvest of Change

Larry Jarboe, a county commissioner in St. Mary's who has long been an advocate for the Amish, said the remaining farmers are smart to shift to burley.

"Times change," Jarboe said. "You either roll with the punches, or you just go under."

Last year, in Maryland farmers' first season producing burley, they sold about 500,000 pounds. This year, they are on target to double that load, Conrad said.

That figure is dwarfed by the 217 million pounds of burley produced annually across the country, but Conrad said Maryland's share is likely to keep expanding.

"As long as growers continue to be happy with the prices, I think we'll continue to see it grow," Conrad said.

Cox has a contract with Philip Morris to sell about 40,000 pounds at $1.55 to $1.60 a pound this season. He said he's not making as much a he did with Maryland tobacco. That crop sold for about $1.70 in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Still, it's enough for Cox. Enough to support his family and pay the mortgage on his 352-acre farm, where he also grows corn.

Burley is in high demand. It makes up about one-third of the blends for all domestic cigarettes, said Pam Haver, a spokeswoman for the Philip Morris buying station. U.S. manufacturers like using burley because of its strong taste and smoking characteristics.

The harvesting procedures are the same as for Maryland tobacco: The plants grow green, and around late summer, the leaves turn yellow. Then farmers cut the stalks and hang them upside down on sticks from the rafters of their barns.

The stalks take about a month to dry out. The long brown leaves -- dry, thin and wrinkled -- end up like pages of an ancient explorer's diary.

Farmers strip the dry leaves off the stalks by hand and sort them into four grades. The most valuable leaves are on the tip. The stalks are then spread over the field to fertilize the soil for next season.

Gilbert "Buddy" Bowling Sr., who owns the Hughesville warehouse that hosted the annual tobacco auction, said the decline of Maryland tobacco was an opportunity to begin burley production in Southern Maryland, where the soil and climate are good.