JTI Leaf Services in Danville has partnered with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research for laboratory services to ensure quality tobacco blends.
Since the announcement of the joint venture company in 2009, JTI Leaf Services quickly learned that the volume of tobacco samples it would be testing didn't warrant its own lab or personnel, Leaf Services Director Steve Daniels said.
The tobacco procurement and processing facility receives regional farmers' flue-cured and burley tobacco at the former Dan River Distribution Center in Riverview Industrial Park and continues to grow.
"We are very satisfied with our partnership with the institute and expect the relationship will continue to add value for both parties for the foreseeable future," Daniels said.
Having institute lab and research technician Dana Lambert perform the needed tests on tobacco samples' sugar and nicotine content ensures the quality of JTI Leaf Services' tobacco blends, which are prepared based on leaf quality and stalk position, Daniels said.
Such information ensures JTI blenders maintain consistency using different tobacco leaves from around the world.
Lambert, who graduated from Averett University with a bachelor's degree in biomedical science, wanted to stay in the area to help improve it. She grew up in Danville but spent time on her uncle's tobacco farm in Halifax County. Now, she gets to see what happens after tobacco gets delivered to the receiving station.
"It's wonderful. A lot of people still really don't know what we do up here," she said about the institute. "We're trying to bring in the jobs and technology so Danville can be competitive in the rest of the world."
Other analytical tests for JTI leaf samples are performed in Germany and Japan, but if the institute can provide similar capability, the company would consider using that local resources for additional tests, Daniels said.
JTI also has partnered with Virginia Tech, North Carolina State University and the University of Kentucky for tobacco production research, Daniels added. Such research investment supports improved quality, productivity, leaf integrity and crop sustainability in tobacco farming.
"This research will benefit the farmers as well as JTI in its business to purchase high-quality tobacco in a responsible and sustainable manner for the long term," Daniels said.
JTI Leaf Services LLC is a joint venture between Japan Tobacco International (a division of Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest tobacco company), and U.S.-based leaf tobacco suppliers Hail & Cotton and J.E.B. International. Tobacco is exported for use in cigarettes.
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