Testimonials...

Despite the Risks and Failures, some farmers have replaced their tobacco crops

The 36 members of the Roundstone Native Seed LLC co-op in Upton have made money by growing and marketing grass seed native to Kentucky, state officials
said. "Our co-op has been profitable from Day One," said Randy Seymour, 62, who, with son John, began a decade ago by collecting the seeds from native stands discovered on their Upton farm.

Founded in 1999 and formerly known as The Kentucky Native Seed Cooperative, the group reorganized as Roundstone in 2002. It had about $1.25 million in sales last year, Seymour said, and is the largest native seed producer in the Southeast.

The Kentucky Agriculture Development Board has provided money for the co-op to buy equipment to harvest, clean, dry and store seeds. Seymour said his son used to raise about 36,000 pounds of tobacco, had 125 cattle and cut 3,000 rolls of hay a year. "But he couldn't make a living because he was too big to do it himself and not big enough to hire the labor," he said. The family stopped growing tobacco three years ago and went into seeds, which have less overhead -- basically, a single herbicide application or field burning to clear weeds. ...Printed in the Courier Journal