Kentucky: Tobacco Farmers Growing Impatient

Source from:  Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal HARRODSBURG, Ky. 07/01/2004

When Bruce Wade, a 25-year-old tobacco farmer in Mercer County, bought a 100-acre farm at auction in early May, he watched as the farm's tobacco quota sold separately for $2.60 a pound. "I would have given $5 a pound if I knew that I wasn't going to lose it this year, or I knew that it wasn't going to get cut 25 percent next year, but I didn't know any of that," Wade said. The 2001 University of Kentucky graduate, who is leasing approximately 100,000 pounds of burley tobacco this year, is one of the young farmers for whom the on-again, off-again, on-again government tobacco buyout looms as a possible factor in their future in agriculture. [img border=0 hspace="4" vspace="4" align="left" src=http://www.tobaccochina.com/english/picture/r94936214.jpg] "No matter what the situation turns out to be, we need something to tell us, `OK, you're safe for 10 years,' or, `You might as well forget it,'" Wade said. "I don't have anything to plan on. What if I need a new Highboy (high-wheel tractor) or a new tobacco setter? Should I go out and invest another $20,000 not knowing where I'm going?" Many of Kentucky's burley producers are longtime growers who are nearing or past retirement age, and many are expected to transition to full retirement or at least give up tobacco production if the buyout is approved. "There are a large number of them that are ready to take the money and run, so to speak," said University of Kentucky extension tobacco specialist Bob Pearce. "Some of the others who are in midcareer want to expand a little bit, but they're not talking about taking on a huge expansion. So that kind of leaves you wondering — if a bunch are going to get out and the ones who are left don't want to expand a whole lot, how are we going to supply what the tobacco companies may want?" GREG YOUNG, a 24-year-old Marion County tobacco grower who graduated from UK in 2002, said he favors the buyout but he is being hindered by government indecision. "Most of the quotas are owned by older farmers that don't produce the crop anymore but are leasing it out at a certain price, and regardless of what kind of year we have, they're going to get their money," Young explained. "All this constant talk about, `They might someday get $7 or $8 a pound (in a buyout),' is just enticing them to not want to sell their quota, and it's keeping lease prices high." Under the current buyout proposal, which recently cleared the House, $7 per pound would be paid to quota owners and $3 per pound would be paid to growers who lease quotas. The payments would be based on 2002 quotas and spread over five years. Young is raising about 30 acres this year, most of it leased. If there is a buyout, he expects the first two or three years without quotas to be "a little scary" for those who continue. But he plans to remain in the tobacco business unless prices plummet and the crop is no longer profitable. HE ALSO HOPES that if quotas are lifted, tobacco producers and companies can work together to develop price and production guidelines that will help assure a stable market. "We've had some big cuts in the last five years, and when they're cutting the quota 20, 30 percent, it's so uncertain you don't know what to do for the long term — so it's almost been year to year," said producer Al Pedigo, 48, of Allen County, who grows 80 acres of tobacco. "Most everyone in my area is in favor of the buyout if we can hold the kind of money together that they're talking about in this package. I just think we've gotten to the point where, if we don't do something to compensate people ... in five years or so we won't have (a program) anyway. Who would have thought two years ago that Lexington, Kentucky — the heart of tobacco country — would have a smoking ban?" Byron Crawford's column appears on the Metro page Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can reach him at (502) 582-4791 or e-mail him at bcrawford@courier-journal.com. You can also read his columns at www.courier-journal.com. Enditem