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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).

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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.

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