Tobacco Board is Officially Axed

02/20/2009

The marketing system that brought prosperity to Ontario's tobacco belt for decades is officially dead. About 2,000 people packed into a closed meeting in Delhi last night to hear the details of a federal buyout that will wrap up the quota system that has been in place since 1957. Linda Vandendriessche, chairperson of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board said it was a sombre meeting that marked the end of a way of life. "It was pretty tough. Generations of farmers have worked to establish what we have," she said. Tobacco growers have until March 23 to take the federal buyout offer of $1.05 for each pound of quota they hold. If they take the buyout they must agree get out of tobacco growing permanently. Farmers who choose to go on producing will have to get a provincial licence and will likely grow a crop on contract with a cigarette manufacturer. The future of the marketing board itself is in doubt, since its main function was to supervise quota and auction the crop on behalf of producers. But Vandenriessche said the board might still have a role in representing farmers who stay in the business, although she declined to speculate on how many farmers would continue to grow tobacco. At its peak in the 1970s, tobacco was Ontario's most valuable cash crop, with 2,600 producers scattered across Norfolk, Elgin, Oxford, Brant and Middlesex Counties. Over 1,000 people continue to hold tobacco quota but only a few hundred grew the crop last summer. Crop size has plunged from 150 million pounds to just 22 million pounds over the past 10 years. For the latest local coverage, read The London Free Press on the web or in print. Enditem