As if flue-cured tobacco growers didn’t have enough worries, they now must retrofit their curing barns by the end of June 2001 in order to stay in business.

Curing barn manufacturers will explain and demonstrate barn retrofitting methods April 4 in Wilson and April 6 in Kernersville. The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service is sponsoring the meetings.

The Eastern North Carolina Barn Retrofit Day is at 2 p.m. at the Liberty Tobacco Warehouse, at the corner of Ward Boulevard and Goldsboro Street in Wilson. More information on the meeting is available from Norman Harrell, agricultural extension agent in Wilson County, at (252) 237-0111.

The Piedmont Barn Retrofit Day is at 10 a.m. at the Grower’s Tobacco Warehouse on Linville Road, north of the Linville Road exit from Business Interstate 40 between Kernersville and Winston-Salem. More information on the meeting is available from Mark Tucker, agricultural extension agent in Forsyth County, at (336) 767-8213.

Between 30,000 and 35,000 barns must be retrofitted to reduce tobacco-specific nitrosamines in flue-cured tobacco, says Dr. Mike Boyette, Philip Morris associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at N.C. State University.

Tobacco-specific nitrosamines have been show to be potent carcinogens. Boyette says nitrosamines are produced in flue-cured tobacco when nitrous oxides, a combustion product, combine with nicotine in tobacco leaves. Combustion occurs as tobacco is cured.

Most growers use direct-fired systems that burn natural or LP gas to cure their crops. Research shows that if such direct-fired systems are retrofitted with heat exchangers, tobacco-specific nitrosamines are reduced dramatically.

Tobacco from U.S. growers’ two largest competitors — Brazil and Zimbabwe — is lower in nitrosamines, ironically because growers in both countries use less advanced curing methods. Those methods feature indirect-fired heating systems, which typically feature a flue that carries away combustion byproducts.

Although American growers used similar methods up to 40 years ago, more recent curing barns typically don’t have flues.

Boyette says foreign tobacco buyers no longer wish to buy tobacco with high nitrosamine concentrations. If American growers are to remain competitive, he says, they must reduce nitrosamines in their tobacco.

Furthermore, U.S. growers have seen their quotas — the amount of tobacco they may produce — cut by more than 35 percent over the past two years, and they realize that they must take steps to remain competitive in the marketplace.

Boyette says that major tobacco companies and the Flue-Cured Tobacco Stabilization Corp. have developed an $85 million cost-sharing plan to help growers with barn retrofitting expenses.

Curing barn owners will be eligible for financial assistance of up to $3,000 per barn or the actual cost of retrofitting, whichever is less, if they retrofit barns before Aug. 1. After that date, the amount drops to $2,600 per barn if retrofitted before June 30, 2001.

Boyette estimates the retrofitting cost per barn at $4,500 to $5,000. Barn owners are responsible for any cost above the $3,000 or $2,600 cost-share payment.

Barns must be retrofitted by June 30, 2001. Boyette says that, as of July 1, 2001, growers must certify that their tobacco has been cured without exposure to combustion gases, in order to be eligible for price supports.