Good Agriculture Practices has become a very common phrase in the last ten years in the agriculture industry.  As consumers become more aware of where and how their food and other products are raised, they have held producers to a standard of production defined by Good Agriculture Practices, or GAP.  The tobacco industry is no different.  

Just like the food and fiber industry tobacco production has been held to those same standards.  While consumers have lead the way to uphold these standards, tobacco companies have made it a priority that their producers perform to these standards and receive the necessary training to meet any new or current practices.  The 2020-2021 production year was a hard year for everyone including tobacco producers.   Excessive rain and large storm events reeked havoc on tobacco crops of western Kentucky.

As many producers struggled in the field, they were also struggling to meet GAP and labor requirements.   University of Kentucky tobacco specialist Dr. Andy Bailey and Dr. Bob Pierce, along with GAPC representative Amy Roches provided Tobacco GAP training for producers all over the state on a virtual platform.  While meetings were limited in 2020-2021 producers were able to attend Tobacco GAP trainings at the Christian County Extension office on a monthly basis until all producers had their required training.  As meeting restrictions were lifted and social distancing allowed meetings were hosted on a virtual platform as well as in person.  Over the course of the training season over 70 producers were able to attend in house trainings to fulfill their Tobacco GAP requirements.