Tobacco Farmers Weighing Options

Source from:  JEFF HELSDON, Special to The Free Press 05/09/2005

Phones were ringing off the hook at the office of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board this week as farmers tried to find out if their bids in the Tobacco Adjust Assistance Program (TAAP) reverse auction had been successful. About half of Ontario's tobacco farmers submitted bids, offering to give up about 152 million pounds of base production quota. According to Agriculture Canada numbers, there were 279 successful applicants. Tobacco board chairperson Fred Neukamm said that equates to 150 of a total 770 farm families who will no longer be growing tobacco. Although half the farmers put in bids, signifying they want to leave the industry, Neukamm said it's difficult to comment on what that means without more details. "Without knowing the price of the bids, it's a little difficult to interpret that," he said. "It's an indication our farmers and communities still need help." Neukamm said the end of TAAP is the beginning of a long-term exit strategy. He was disappointed industry downsizing was necessary, but still saw it as a first step toward a solution. With the buyout plan complete, the board's attention shifts to the 2005 crop. The first big investment farmers have to make toward the crop is fumigant for the land. That process is expected to take place in the next week to 10 days and Neukamm wants to be able to let growers know the crop size. Committee meetings to discuss the topic are scheduled for next week. The program still leaves an unanswered question as to what will be planted on the thousands of acres that won't go into tobacco this year. "It's difficult for us to predict in the short term what will happen to those lands," Neukamm said. "Some may end up in rye and others may be rented for cash crops or even tobacco." While the program put restrictions on the farmer as a quota holder, it didn't restrict the use of the land. Enditem