Just as coal is a declining industry in Kentucky (as mentioned in the article), so too is tobacco... and there are some tech companies looking to turn all that tobacco know-how to use in a substitute crop, for example industrial hemp (https://www.anandahemp.com/the-ananda-difference/) which uses the same assets and infrastructure as tobacco.
Discussion on a similar article from April last year:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14171985
Just as coal is a declining industry in Kentucky (as mentioned in the article), so too is tobacco... and there are some tech companies looking to turn all that tobacco know-how to use in a substitute crop, for example industrial hemp (https://www.anandahemp.com/the-ananda-difference/) which uses the same assets and infrastructure as tobacco.