Person Leaf Grower 'Signs up' to be Proactive for Fellow Farmers

Source from:  By Phyliss Boatwright, C-T Staff Writer  06/10/2004

Motorists along U.S. 501 South over the past week have probably noticed a large red and white sign posted in a tobacco field near The Sport Shop that reads, "Thanks to big tobacco companies, the rest of this tobacco field is planted in Brazil." Tobacco grower Earl Brooks said he put up the sign as a statement about how the American tobacco farmer feels to see "our jobs going south. We parallel the textile industry." [img border=0 hspace="4" vspace="4" align="left" src=http://www.tobaccochina.com/english/picture/040605TbccSign.jpg] Brooks said textile jobs had been moving overseas at a dizzying pace over the past few years and now, he said, "We're seeing tobacco doing the same. I think the tobacco farmer would like to know, one way or another, what they (big tobacco companies) are going to do." The cuts in tobacco quotas have been a "big issue" over the past five to 10 years, said Brooks. "We have seen a 50 percent reduction in our livelihood, and there is talk of another 33 percent cut this year," when the 2005 quota is announced in December. This has been happening, he said, "at the same time that tobacco companies are making more than they have ever made." Brooks added, "They are still making a product and selling it for a profit. I'd just like to know if we (American farmers) will be a part of it" in the future. He said the big tobacco companies no longer need the political clout of growers because they now "have the states in their back pockets" via the payments the states receive each year from the big companies. Brooks, who is on contract with Brown and Williams, said he put up the sign in his field because he knew it would get a lot of visibility in the location just south of town. Also, said Brooks, not only does the sign represent a big cut in what he can grow, it also stands across from the site where "we used to have an auction, then it was a (buying) station (for one of the large companies) and now it is back to an auction." And, he added, "I like to be a little proactive" about issues that affect Person County as deeply as does the tobacco industry. He said that so far, he had received many positive comments from other tobacco farmers. Brooks himself has been a tobacco farmer all his life, like his father, grandfather, and many generations before. He said he does not foresee his own sons being able to reap their livelihood from the farm, however. His service on the county's Economic Development Commission, said Brooks, had given him insight into how badly the county needs jobs and industry growth. But, with the cuts in textiles and tobacco recently, he said, "We've got to make something here in order to buy things here." He said he was pleased about the potential for the Vector Tobacco property in Timberlake to be purchased by the Flue-Cured Tobacco Stabilization Cooperative Corp. If that deal should come to fruition, he said, "It is a good move," that will "send a message to big tobacco that others are willing to come in for American leaf." It was announced in April that the co-op had looked into purchasing the Vector plant on Crown Boulevard. Vector operated the plant for about two years, making low- and no-nicotine cigarettes. It closed last year, however, when the company moved the Person County operations to Mebane in what it described as a "cost-cutting measure." Brooks said this week he had no confirmation on whether the co-op would indeed buy the Vector facility, but, keeping up the American farmer's eternal optimism, he was hopeful the deal would eventually go through. If the farmers' cooperative does purchase the Vector plant here, it reportedly will manufacture traditional cigarettes using Southern-grown flue-cured tobacco. Brooks also commented on a larger issue affecting all U.S. tobacco farmers. Asked how he felt about President Bush's statement a few weeks ago that the tobacco program in the United States was doing fine the way it is and that a buyout for farmers was not needed, Brooks said the president was "uninformed." He said he thought Sen. Elizabeth Dole "was probably working harder than anyone else up there" in Washington, D.C., but that communication had been lacking. Brooks said he understood the president had "a lot of big issues" to deal with, with top priority being "to win the war" on terrorism, but, he said, "We have economic issues here at home" that need to be addressed. The Associated Press reported Friday that the White House had shifted its position on the buyout, which would provide tobacco growers nearly $10 billion in exchange for farmers giving up a Depression-era federal program that supported tobacco prices through quotas. According to the AP, House Republicans agreed yesterday on a bill that would have the buyout take place over five years with the $9.6 billion cost being covered by a 39-cent federal tax on each pack of cigarettes. Under a buyout, growers would be paid to give up government-granted tobacco allotments that establish how much leaf they are allowed to sell each year. As Brooks said, their livelihood has suffered in recent years due to a decrease in smoking and an increase in imports of cheaper tobacco. Responding to a political outcry this election year, the Bush administration has signaled a willingness to go along with the buyout, according to AP reports, provided the buyout does not increase the deficit or impose new regulations on tobacco products. The administration's position marks a switch from a month ago, when Bush , on the campaign trail in Ohio, said he didn't think the system under which farmers grow and sell tobacco needed to be changed. As of the writing of this article, the Senate had not produced a bill that includes the tobacco buyout. Enditem