Abstract: A tobacco harvesting apparatus including a mobile frame, having a cutting station comprising a rotary cutter blade, a rotary paddle assembly, and a receiver for a longitudinally and forward projecting tobacco stick in a stick receiving position behind the cutting station, whereby forward movement of the mobile frame causes the cutting station to move along a row of tobacco plants so that the tobacco stalk is cut by the rotary cutter blade and is impaled and moved along the tobacco stick by the rotary paddle assembly.The apparatus further includes an automatic stick ejector mechanism for receiving the rear end of the tobacco stick and rotating the tobacco stick upward and behind the mobile frame upon actuation by a predetermined accumulation of stalks upon the tobacco stick, and a stick feeding mechanism for feeding one stick at a time from a stick reservoir to the stick receiver, operating in synchronism with the stick ejector mechanism.