Buster and Jessie Norton are hardworking farmers. This funny and loving couple farm multiple plots of land in the remote Grapevine section of Madison County, NC. They grow a large garden, make hay, cultivate corn, and are one of the last people to produce tobacco.

Tobacco was once the main crop of North Carolina and Madison County was one the three counties in the western part of the state that were major producers. But times change and the demand for tobacco has dropped due to a reduction in smoking and foreign imports, so the crop is all but gone today.

Here you can watch this all-but-gone process as Buster and Jessie describe the growing and harvesting process, talk about their life farming, and the demands they face as they grow older in the profession. We visit their tobacco fields, watch them harvest the crop, and sit with them for a conversation in the barn where the tobacco is hanging to dry.

For over forty years I have photographed tobacco production from planting through harvest, and all the way to the auction houses at the end of the season. I’ll share images from my files and books, The Face of Appalachia, On Earth’s Furrowed Brow, and Hands in Harmony.