Farmers & Politicians Meet About Tobacco Buyout

Source from:  Pittsylvania Co., VA 11/08/2004

As the impact of the tobacco buyout continues to sink in for farmers, there is still much uncertainty about the future. Thursday night some questions answered as farmers met with political leaders. Last month, President Bush (website - news - bio) signed a bill allowing the government to pay tobacco farmers one lump sum to pay back debts and retire instead of paying them year-by-year. Farmers in our area say the move is a positive one they've been waiting nearly a decade for and it will do much more than just help tobacco farmers. Bobby Wilkerson, Tobacco Farmer - "If the farmers want to stay in business they'll have some money to invest. We have just been maintaining what equipment we had over the past years so maybe now we can invest and buy some new equipment." Rep. Virgil Goode, (R) 5th District - "That will mean additional jobs in the area, it will spur the economy, farm debts will be able to be paid, so it has a number of positive aspects." With the tobacco buyout, nearly $500-million will be paid to tobacco farmers on the Southside over the next ten years. Enditem