Tobacco Production Drops Sharply in Tennessee

Source from:  WBIR NBC (Knoxville, TN) 09/01/2004

Tobacco production in Tennessee is waning. The number of acres harvested has dropped more than 50 percent -- from about 63,000 acres in 1999 to about 31,000 last year. The value of the crop has also dwindled. Farmers say a complex federal quota and price-support system makes their crops more expensive compared with those of foreign competitors. Growers also have also been hit by shrinking domestic consumption, creating a cycle of smaller crop sizes and higher costs. Many tobacco farmers have given up, and most who have stuck with it are banking on proposed legislation in Congress that would do away with the quota system. More than 12,000 growers in Tennessee -- the country's third-biggest tobacco-producing state -- are estimated to be eligible to receive as much as $700 million over a six-or-seven year period under versions of the buyout plan. Enditem