A tobacco harvesting machine is shown for use in automatically impaling the stalks of standing tobacco plants onto a tobacco stick that is fixed on the machine in a horizontal position. The machine is a wheeled platform that supports a pair of parallel, rotating augers on which a tobacco stick is positioned in a horizontal, fixed position. The front end of the platform is provided with a wide, inwardly-tapered cutout channel that is aligned with the tobacco stick. There is a swinging pair of knife blades supported from the platform that move between a first inoperative position and a second operative position for forming a wide gap in the stalk of a tobacco plant so that the stick may be forced through the gap. The augers serve to force the stalk of the tobacco plant rearwardly on the tobacco stick. Moreover, there is an automatic cutting means for severing the stalk from the ground after the plant is positioned on the tobacco stick.