DANVILLE, Ky. -- Tripp Foy's sing-song chant rang out like a sentimental oldie for die-hard farmers clinging to the old way of selling tobacco, as a small procession of buyers shadowed him down long ...

Farmers who have spent their lives tending the aromatic crop in their fields find comfort in Foy's rat-a-tat style, part of an auction system that's been all but snuffed out by another way of selling ...

HUGHESVILLE — Tradition here means the rich, sweet smell of dried tobacco. It means cold, dusty air and bales upon bales of coppery leaves that rustle when handled. It means bantering with old friends ...

When Dale W. Shelley was growing up on a tobacco farm near Green Sea, S.C., his hero was the auctioneer at the warehouse, “that fast-talking guy with the spring in his step.” During a tour in the Navy ...

This warehouse, Independent No. 2, sits empty and run down, another symbol of the auction system’s decline as farmers increasingly sell leaf directly to tobacco companies.But the 60,000-square-foot ...

In this Nov. 18 photo, auctioneer Tripp Foy, right, hands a tobacco purchase ticket to a buyer at an auction in Danville, Ky. DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Tripp Foy’s sing-song chant rang out like a ...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The traditional chants of the tobacco auctioneer will be silent when flue-cured tobacco markets open this week, replaced by the soft clicks of handheld computers. A farmers cooperative ...

HUGHESVILLE – A couple hundred farmers, buyers and tourists converged on Farmers Tobacco Warehouse Tuesday morning to witness what could be Maryland's last tobacco auction. "Nobody wants to work ...

DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Tripp Foy’s sing-song chant rang out like a sentimental oldie for die-hard farmers clinging to the old way of selling tobacco, as a small procession of buyers shadowed him down ...

DANVILLE, Ky. >> Tripp Foy’s sing-song chant rang out like a sentimental oldie for die-hard farmers clinging to the old way of selling tobacco, as a small procession of buyers shadowed him down long ...

About 400,000 pounds of tobacco were available last month on the opening sales day at the Danville warehouse, where Foy presided as auctioneer. Jerry Rankin, the warehouse operator, plans twice-weekly ...