Adrip-irrigation line coursing through a field of tobacco on Steve Hudson’s Halifax County farm represents an investment in efficiency. It also represents a link to cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, which is reaching out to young farmers such as Hudson, 31, to try to keep them in the tobacco-growing business. The Henrico County-based cigarette company provided Hudson with a $5,000 grant to cover part of the costs for the drip-irrigation system, designed to water the crop more efficiently than an older, overhead irrigation system.

As of this morning, Philip Morris USA’s Richmond manufacturing plant is the only site where the company makes cigarettes.

Federal health officials said yesterday that they have found cancer-causing ingredients in electronic cigarettes, despite manufacturers’ claims the products are safer than tobacco cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration said testing of products from two leading electronic cigarette makers turned up several toxic chemicals, including a key ingredient in antifreeze.

Some of the newer smokeless products that tobacco companies are betting on may not be as good at helping smokers quit as the industry hopes, a new federally funded study by Virginia Commonwealth University shows. And that means they may not be the kind of reduced-harm product that is the industry’s latest hope, now that tobacco is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Winning FDA designation as a “potential reduced-exposure product” could be worth billions of dollars, and a key element of that could be whether an item keeps smokers from lighting up.

A cigarette maker and a smoker’s widow squared off for the third time at the Supreme Court yesterday over a $79.5 million punitive damages award. But the real battle was between the justices and their counterparts on Oregon’s high court. Twice before, the Supreme Court has struck down the judgment against Altria Group Inc.‘s Philip Morris USA and ordered the Oregon court to take another look at the case. Each time, the Oregon high court has upheld the award to Mayola Williams, the widow of a longtime smoker of Philip Morris’ Marlboro brand.

Altria Group Inc., the parent company of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, is planning job cuts in its Richmond-area operations by the end of February. The cuts are expected to come from the Henrico County-based company’s Altria Client Services unit, which provides administrative services for its subsidiaries, such as Philip Morris USA.