T
he production of tobacco in the Southern region of Brazil in-
volves more than 144 thousand family farms in Rio Grande do
Sul, Santa Catarina and in Paraná. Although most operations
belong to small-scale farmers and are predominantly family-
run, some of the holdings are viewed as tobacco farming giants.
In the Coastal area of Santa Catarina, farmer Filipe Francisco, only 29 years
old, cultivates upwards of one million tobacco plants. In an area of 60 hect-
ares in the district of Arroio Corrente, interior of the municipality of Jaguaru-
na, he runs his businesses and is determined to expand his crop even further.
The vocation for cultivating Flue-Cured Virginia started in the cradle.
He first grew tobacco with his grandfather, back in the 1980s. Now, his fa-
ther Otávio Oliveira Francisco is one of the motivators and supporters of
the young entrepreneur. “Tobacco is everything in my life. I would not
be able to live without growing tobacco”, he notes. On the farm, the dai-
ly routine resembles a micro-company and the numbers are impressive.
With two crops a year, the volume exceeds 150 tons of tobacco, about 10
thousand arrobas. The traditional cycle extends from July to December,
while the winter crop starts in March and comes to a close in October.
According to Francisco, to cope with all the work a strong team is need-
ed. Onaverage, the farmemploys 10permanentworkers, but at harvest time,
Tobaccogrower
intheCoastal
Regionin
SantaCatarina
cultivatesupwards
ofonemillion
plantsandis
determinedto
carryonwith
hisbusinesses
tobacco
Plentyof
fieldsaround
Inor Ag. Assmann
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