Harvesting Tobacco was my first job.
I worked on my fathers farm and after we got our crops in I hired out to the neighbors, for 5 dollars a day and lunch.I was 14 the first time I was hired.
I cropped tobacco , too. Eastern NC, started when I was 13, summer of ‘73. Also drove the tractor, loaded the curing barns, unloaded the barns, topped and suckered, you name it. Dad wasn’t a farmer, it was a friend of his I worked for. Dad worked at MCAS Cherry Point, but was raised on a tobacco farm. I come from a long line of NC tobacco farmers. Anyway, 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, pay was $2.00 an hour back then.