Tobacco Buyout Signup Deadline is Friday

Source from:  By Stevie L. Daugherty 06/16/2005

Ninety-seven percent of Marion County's tobacco farmers have signed up to receive buyout payments beginning in September, according to Marion County Farm Service Agency Director Pat Spalding. The rest of Marion County's tobacco farmers - approximately 25 - have until Friday to sign up, he said. "We're trying to get a hold of those people that haven't signed up," Spalding said. "Some farmers have just forgotten but we'll have a few people that are going to be impossible to get a hold of." Signing up for the program is voluntary, though it is a farmer's last chance to receive federal payments in 2005. However, they will be able to sign up late and receive payments for nine years of the 10-year period, Spalding said, beginning in 2006. Starting in 2006, payments will be made each January. Passed by Congress last year, the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 ends the federal quota and price support programs with the 2004 market. This means that, beginning with the 2005 tobacco crop, there are no planting restrictions, marketing cards and price support loans. However, farmers can still grow the crop and contract directly with a company to sell their crop. Payments will be made between June and September 2005 for Fiscal Year 2005. In Fiscal Year 2006 through Fiscal Year 2014, payments will be made in January of each year. After farmers get their first payment, there will be a 60-day window where they can go to certain banks and credit institutions that might be willing to give them a lump-sum payment, Spalding said. "There will be a window of opportunity to visit with financial institutions and make a trade," he said. "Kind of a bartering system. We hear that the rate will be between from 79 to 82 percent." According to the United States Department of Agriculture, if a private party enters into an agreement where an individual quota holder or tobacco producer is to receive a lump-sum payment from them in return for the individual's rights to Tobacco Transition Payment, the private party will likely request that either the contract payment be assigned to them as the payments are earned over 10 years or they will request that all rights be transferred under the contract to them by executing a successor-in-interest contract. Successor-in-interest contracts will be available beginning with the Fiscal Year 2006 payment. Assignment forms are available from local USDA Service Centers. Any farmer that hasn't signed up for the Tobacco Transition Payment Program should contact the Marion County Farm Service Agency at (270) 692-3151 or go their offices on Metts Drive in Lebanon by Friday. For more information on the transition program, contact the Marion County USDA Service Center at (270) 692-3351, the National Tobacco Call Center at (866) 887-0140 or visit the Farm Service Agency Web site at www.fsa.usda.gov/tobacco. Enditem