'Most' Farmers Ready to Leave Tobacco

Source from:  Daniel Pearce - SIMCOE REFORMER Simcoe Reformer 12/13/2004

The future for tobacco is so bleak that "most" farmers will take a government buyout within the next year if it's offered, a Burford area grower has predicted. An end to the quota system in the U.S. will push down the price of leaf on both sides of the border in 2005, making an already tough business unfeasible, said Ken Tota, who is heading up a group called Tobacco Farmers in Crisis. "We believe most of them will take it by next year," Tota said in an interview. "Things are changing faster than we can react to it. Change is happening really fast." Growers had expected a joint federal-provincial aid program, announced last spring, that would pay farmers to leave the business would be up and running by now. Tensions have been increasing in the tobacco community as talks between the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board and federal officials over the buyouts have dragged on while the industry continues to spiral downwards. This year, about 35 farmers agreed not to grow in return for signing up for the aid program and have been left without any income. "I was expecting it in the spring when the program was announced," said Arpad Pasztor, who opted out of growing 55 acres on his farm west of Langton this year. "They put it off until September. In September, it was still not there. Now it's still not here." Pasztor grew vegetables instead. His wife and son took other jobs, and his son has abandoned plans to take over the farm, which has been in the family for 60 years. "It's been financially and emotionally stressful," Pasztor told the Reformer. He said he has met with the board on the matter and is waiting for an answer. Tobacco Farmers in Crisis, a group of area growers, met behind closed doors Thursday night in Tillsonburg to discuss the possibility of taking legal action against the federal government over the delay in the aid program. "It's only one option we're considering," Tota said Thursday morning. Tota, whose family has been growing tobacco since 1950, said he will accept a package "if the numbers are what I'm looking for." The group was formed because the tobacco board is considered to be an extension of the provincial and federal governments and cannot launch the suit, he said. Last week, the board learned the federal program would be worth $67.1 million rather than the $71 million reported last spring. Also frustrating has been a lack of movement from the Ontario government, which promised $50 million in aid during the last election but has yet to make an announcement. On Thursday, board chair Fred Neukamm spoke briefly with Premier Dalton McGuinty on the topic during the premier's conference on agri-food in Toronto. "His words were encouraging, but we will not diminish our efforts until we see a concrete and positive announcement," Neukamm said from Queen's Park. Enditem