Dust and nicotine

Changes in the tobacco industry–lower prices, declining demand, and a heightened stigma towards the trade–have had many small farmers reeling.

Many people don’t realize that some Amish grow and use tobacco (especially those in Lancaster County and related settlements).

In this Washington Post article, southern Maryland Amish farmers, along with some non-Amish counterparts, have refused a state-sponsored buyout and shifted to producing a higher-demand leaf common to Kentucky and Tennessee.

And in a 2003 piece for Wired, the Amish fill a niche market and earn nearly twice the market rate to boot, by growing a genetically-modified, lower nicotine strain.