Growing Tobacco

Does anyone know why the Amish grow Tobacco?

I would think they would be totally against it. We saw many many tobacco farms in Lancaster.

Growing Tobacco

I am in no way an expert on the Amish, but I have lived with them close by my entire life. My guess would be that the tobacco is a cash crop that has been a main crop for them for years. The main opposition is more to the worldly things. Technology, ie machine, cars, etc. Tobacco has no evil attached to it. Again the opposition would be in being able to farm the crop with ';modern'; means. Tobacco is a very old crop.

Growing Tobacco

Tobacco is a labor-intensive crop which grows well in the fertile fields of Lancaster County. While there would be Amish groups which would strictly forbid growing (or use) of tobacco, it is widely grown among the Amish of Lancaster. Many will also use tobacco in cigars and pipes, while cigarettes are viewed as being ';worldly';, and are strictly forbidden. Those opposed to tobacco would quote Scripture from I Corinthians 6:19-20, in which Paul says, ';Do you not know that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?'; The argument is placed that if one%26#39;s body is ';a temple'; of God%26#39;s Spirit, it should not be abused with tobacco and drugs. Most Mennonite farmers of Lancaster County refrain from growing (or using) tobacco, but this was not true a generation or two ago. Revival influence of the 1950s changed Lancaster Mennonite perspective on this issue.

Thanks so much for the information. It clears up a lot in my mind.

Tobacco growing, processing and packaging was, by the late 1800%26#39;s, a very important industry in the county...many of our tobacco warehouses are just now being reborn as offices, condos, hotels, etc.

Although the packaging has moved elsewhere, and acreage nowadays is nowhere near what it was in the heyday (I think the gradual decline began in the 1930%26#39;s), Lancaster county still produces highly regarded tobacco, but primarily for use in cigars and fillers, not cigarettes.

Since so many Amish farm, it is understandable some still grow tobacco with no shame. Many Amish men chew tobacco and/or smoke cigars. It is the Mennonites who shun it%26#39;s use. If you shop in a grocery store in the county and notice they sell no tobacco products it is probably Mennonite owned.

Does anyone know why the Amish grow Tobacco?

MONEY

Amish grow tobacco because of MONEY. Believe it or not, Amish people are pretty much the same as you and I. I know lots of Amish and they are much different than tourists think. Behind the farms and the plain clothes they have businesses with fax machines, computers, and cell phones. They don%26#39;t just grow tobacco, lots of them smoke it as well. The Amish are the richest people in the area. Lots partake in all the luxuries as we do. They just hide it well.