Compensate Tobacco Growers

Source from:  Toronto Star  01/26/2005

Families that may have prospered for generations now verging on financial ruin because of policies It is disappointing — but not surprising — that the Star does not support fair treatment for tobacco farmers who are facing the brunt of anti-tobacco policies. Whether it is high tobacco taxes, smoking bans or any number of other measures designed to dampen tobacco use, farmers are the collateral damage. Governments across this land continue to rake in more than $8 billion each year from tobacco taxes, but farmers are going broke. The World Health Organization has proclaimed in its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that tobacco farmers whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by anti-tobacco policies should be compensated. Canada is the international champion for this framework and should abide by its principles — something the federal government put forward when it announced assistance last May and the Dalton McGuinty government accepted in promising as-yet undelivered assistance. The Star has fallen into the decades-old trap put forward by people who know little of agriculture. "Just grow something else," you say. Where would these products be sold? If you picked up the phone and spoke with almost any fruit or vegetable grower (the most likely complementary crops), you would find out that their markets are saturated. If you spoke to an agronomist, you would find out that sandy tobacco soils cannot support a wide variety of other crops. And tobacco farms are saddled with debt that was used to buy equipment that is not transferable to other crops. If there is no help to exit the industry, our farms — and communities — will collapse. Families that may have prospered for generations are now verging on financial ruin because of the negative effect of government policies. We simply ask that government be part of a long-term strategy for our farmers and help those who are forced to exit the business escape financial ruin. Enditem