Johnston County Hams, a Smithfield icon,

is going out of business after 73 years

"To all of our valued customers Johnston County Hams is ceasing operations after 73 year

Rufus Brown (left) is pictured in 1991 with his father, Jesse, who was the company's curemaster for almost 30 years prior to his death in 1996.

Farm report: Johnston has more acreage

in sweet potatoes than tobacco this year

"According to crop report estimates, tobacco acres in Johnston County for 2019 are down 30% to 6,504 acres," he notes. "Since Johnston growers were largely producing tobacco for export markets like China, those purchasers have slashed their purchase intentions. Growers have responded by cutting acres."

Furthermore, prices paid farmers for their tobacco crops are "likely to be lower ... due to decreased demand," Director Spivey reports. "Also, farmers trying to survive and structure farm operations into viable units have agreed to contracts with new buyers at an even lower price." He forecasts that average prices "will likely be less than $1.90 per pound for the first time in a long while."

Meanwhile, Mr. Spivey reports, Johnston County's sweet-potato acreage is up 30% this year to 11,929 acres --- almost twice the acreage as tobacco's.

Last year's sweet-potato crop was lower in volume because of Hurricane Florence, he notes; "this lower supply has increased the price and today farmers are receiving nearly double the price they received for sweet potatoes last year at this time."

As a result of all that, the projected value of Johnston County's tobacco crop is down to $27.6 million this year while the value of the local sweet-potato crop is projected to reach $50.1 million, Director Spivey reports.

READ MORE on the OBSERVATIONS page>

Public Library of Johnston County

and Smithfield has a new director

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENDAS

MUSIC FOR THE LUNCH BUNCH SERIES continues Wednesday, August 7 at 12:15 p.m. at Smithfield's First Presbyterian Church with a performance by "The Golden Girls," a vocal ensemble including Mary Braswell, Suzanne Coates, Barbette Hester, Nancy White, and

SRAC to host blood drive August 14

The Smithfield Recreation and Aquatics Center will host a community blood drive with the American Red Cross on Wednesday, August 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the SRAC's banquet room.

To make an appointment to donate blood, call 1-800-733-2767 (RED-CROSS) or sign up online at redcrossblood.org with sponsor code "Smithfield."

Blood is a perishable product that can only come from volunteer blood donors. According to the Red Cross, someone in the U.S. is in need of blood every two seconds, so blood products must be constantly replenished.

Donors with all blood types are needed, the Red Cross says, but especially those with types O negative, A negative, and B negative.

The SRAC is located on Booker Dairy Road next to Smithfield-Selma High School.

DEATHS & FUNERALS

THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS

Downtown Smithfield's South Third Street around 1900 has no resemblance to today's streetscape. This view, looking northward from the corner of Johnston Street, shows the Ellington stables on the left alongside the imposing Town Hall and Opera House. Both of those structures along with most of the others shown here are long gone, the Town Hall destroyed by fire in the 1920s. Notice the large telephone poles. That's exactly what they were --- "telephone poles" --- because Smithfield didn't have its electrical system in place when this photograph was taken.