It's End of Era for Selling Tobacco at Exchange

Source from:  www.simcoereformer.ca 02/13/2009

Thursday wasn't a typical day for tobacco sales in the Delhi tobacco auction exchange. Among the typical farmers at the auction exchange there to watch prices were onlookers to see what is sure to be a piece of history take place. Some carried cameras. Some just watched. Thursday was the last day of sales for the 2009 crop, and the last day ever for tobacco to be sold through an auction system in Ontario. "A lot of farmers went the last day out of nostalgia and it was very, very sad," said Linda Vandendriessche, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board. As part of the transition to eliminate tobacco quota, the 2009 crop needed to be sold through the auction system. One of the terms of Tobacco Transition Program was a move to a new type of licensing system not based on quota. Tobacco grown in the future will be done by farmers having contracts directly with manufacturers. The auction system of anonymous selling was a centrepiece when the board was formed in 1957. It was a move from a former contract system that was reputed to be rife with corruption. Vandendriessche was sad to see the end of the auction system. "My heart is broken to see an absolutely perfect system not to be used," she said. Former tobacco board chair and longtime board member George Demeyere grew tobacco six years under the former contract system and saw the launch of the auction with the board. "The old system was outdated at that time," he said. But, Demeyere realizes with the industry shrinking and people still wanting to grow, the industry won't be big enough for an auction. He believes the contract system likely to come into use for this year's crop will be better than pre-board contracting. Enditem