Test plots for tobacco plants near Plankinton

PLANKINTON – A last-minute decision to plant tobacco on a 1.5-acre plot in Aurora County has a farm family doing a lot of manual labor.

John Mayclin, of Mayclin Farms in rural Plankinton, said a family member in California volunteered him for the task.

“Tyton BioSciences had a bunch of transplants left over and wanted to put in a test plot in the Midwest,” Mayclin said.

When they were contacted, the Mayclins agreed and officials from Danville, Va., made the 1,400-mile drive to Plankinton.

Tyton BioSciences is a plant sciences company with a vision to use plants, like tobacco, for alternative biofuels, according to its website. It also says the modified tobacco could help “reinvigorate the traditional domestic American tobacco growing regions and beyond with a new form of tobacco crop.”

Peter Majeranowski, managing director of Tyton BioSciences, said the company’s main objectives for the Aurora County test plot are to start a relationship with Midwest farmers and determine how tobacco performs in the Midwest climate.

To prepare for the plants, Mayclin said he and his brother, Paul, plowed under 1.5 acres of corn just east of Plankinton and south of Old Highway 16.

They borrowed a transplanter from the Platte Hutterite Colony.

“Tobacco seeds are so small they can’t just be planted,” John Mayclin explained.

The plants are grown in greenhouses and transplanted into the ground.

“The transplants were pretty deteriorated when they arrived,” Mayclin said. “It was a lot of manual labor.”

Planting began June 18 and went well into the next day. Mayclin and his volunteer helpers extended the length of the spikes on the transplanter to get the plants deeper into the ground. That posed a problem — the soil didn’t naturally fall back into the hole like it should have, leaving the volunteers to follow the planter and manually fill in nearly all the 14,000 holes punched for each plant.

On top of that, weeds have been a serious problem.

“We’ve had to use hoes to clear out weeds, and tillers,” Mayclin said. “I think we might have to have a pulling party again soon.”

Mayclin said disease has not been a problem — tobacco can be affected by blue mold or target spot — but weeds cause the most problems, especially broadleaf weeds like velvetleaf.

Since tobacco is a broadleaf plant, the Mayclins can’t spray many herbicides. The Mayclins and volunteers have spent about 80 hours pulling weeds in the plot so far. Some of the weeds get as tall as the plants, which currently stand between 5 feet and 6 feet tall.

They haven’t had to spray for bugs.

“You’d think this would be bug heaven, but there is no sign of bug damage,” he said as he checked leaves in the plot earlier this month.

New biofuels source

About 95 percent of the plot is modified tobacco plants, specifically engineered to produce ethanol and biodiesel. The other 5 percent is Virginia smoking tobacco.

The modified tobacco plants produce higher sugar and oil content for ethanol and biodiesel production respectively, Mayclin said.

Majeranowski said the South Dakota plot is the only one the company has planted in the Midwest.

“We are very curious how to plant tobacco when growing it for energy applications,” Majeranowski said in a phone interview with The Daily Republic. “We wanted to learn a little about farming from Midwest farmers and through the lens of those planting corn or soy. Bringing two worlds together can spark innovation and new ideas.”

The tobacco plants on the Mayclin property are “vigorous and healthy,” he added.

So far, most of the plants look pretty clean, Mayclin said. A few were stressed beyond repair. Others grew tall and strong, and still others only grew a few inches, but still flowered.

Tobacco plants can grow between 6 feet and 8 feet tall and require minimal amounts of water.

Compared to corn or soybeans — typical crops grown in South Dakota for biofuels — tobacco produces three times more ethanol per acre than either crop.

Tyton is also working to introduce drought-resistant tobacco. Last growing season, Virginia got a total of about 10 inches of rainfall, Majeranowski said, and tobacco did well in the state.

Traditionally, tobacco has been a very regional crop. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that 99 percent of harvested tobacco acres in the United States were in just 10 states in the East and South in 2012.

Majeranowski said Tyton hopes to not only reinvigorate the tobacco industry in traditional tobacco-growing areas, but also take advantage of fallow land in the Midwest to grow tobacco for biofuels. He said it could do well in soils not suitable for corn and soybeans.

“Tobacco is versatile. It grows in over 100 countries and adapts to climates and different rainfalls,” he said. “We thought in addition to corn, it can be used to help supplement the ethanol demand.”

Surprising results

Using tobacco for biofuels is still in its infancy, but scientists have been modifying the plant for decades, Majeranowski said.

“Tobacco is the white mouse of plant science,” he said. “It’s a very bio-dense plant. It’s pretty agile when it comes to climate.”

Tyton is planning a visit to Aurora County in a few months for the first harvest, he added. Workers will crop the plants to several inches off the ground into either bales or silage. They will also manually harvest several leaves to sample. The harvest will be used in storage experiments, Majeranowski said. Scientists will observe how the bales hold up over time in various types of storage, like baled with twine vs. baled in plastic.

The crop would then be allowed to grow for a second harvest in September, he said. The second cutting would likely yield 10 to 15 percent less than the first.

Majeranowski said the process is a few years away from commercialization, but the company estimates thousands of jobs around the country could result.

“I see a lot of job creation. I’m not saying Tyton would be fully responsible for that, but it would help America do that,” he said.

The Mayclins have been compensated by Tyton for the cost of 1.5 acres of corn. John Mayclin said he agreed to the test plot to gain knowledge of a new crop, for the experience and because tobacco is a possible new, more efficient biofuel.

“Everyone is surprised it has turned out this well,” Mayclin said.

However, the future of tobacco crops in South Dakota is unclear. Should it be successful and become a regular crop, Mayclin isn’t so sure he’d buy into it right away.

“I’d be open to maybe doing some more, but I’d want to be better prepared,” he said.

The short notice before planting the tobacco didn’t allow for applying pre-emergent weed control. He would also like to build or modify his own transplanter and cultivator to reduce manual labor.

For the foreseeable future, Mayclin Farms will likely stick with corn and soybeans, not only for ethanol, but as feed and food supplies.

Majeranowski said because farms are so large in the Midwest, there needs to be modified equipment before large-scale production can begin.

“Corn and soy farms are so huge compared to tobacco farms,” he said. “The key will be on the planting side to figure how to use planters on the big equipment. That’ll be the real capital investment.”