Meeting Looks to the Future of Tobacco in S.C.

Source from:  By Tonya Root The Sun News 01/30/2007

Official says farmers must fight to keep traditional crop viable Flue-cured tobacco growers continue to navigate the unknown with their crop two years after the $10 billion federal buyout that ended government-regulated price supports, but the tradition will continue if farmers broaden their thinking and operations, officials said Friday during the annual meeting of the S.C. Tobacco Grower's Association. Growers at the meeting in Florence also learned their buyout payments are on the way after Farm Service Agency officials said the payments were late this year because of a computer problem with processing those payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The review of 2006 is not as exciting as it was in 2004. Is tobacco still a viable product to produce?" said Jimmy Poston, president of the S.C. Tobacco Growers Association. He said tobacco production in the state decreased tremendously in 10 years, from 50,000 acres of the golden leaf grown in 1995 to 20,000 acres reported in 2005. But acreage increased by 2,000 last year when South Carolina produced 46.2 million pounds of flue-cured tobacco, according to the Clemson University-produced South Carolina Tobacco Growers' Guide 2007. Overall, the guide showed that U.S. tobacco production increased last year by 19 percent from 2005. Prices averaged about $1.50 per pound in 2006, which was slightly higher than the previous year. "I am certain we have a rocky but promising road ahead of us," Poston said. "We're at that road where we don't know which way to go or what to do. We still have many people who are making their living off of tobacco. We need to fight to keep this association viable." South Carolina's Agriculture Commissioner, Hugh Weathers, told the growers that in late May or early June the department will introduce a new marketing campaign to spotlight locally grown products. "We are selling the right for agriculture to be a main cog in South Carolina," Weathers said. "We do need to sell everything we're doing." The campaign will brand South Carolina-grown products to the consumer and should increase the demand for those products, he said. "The demand creates more need for acreage of our crops," Weathers said. The campaign will "influence the amount of products we sell and the goodwill of South Carolina agriculture." Enditem