Georgia Tobacco Growers Had One of the Worst Seasons in Memory

Source from:  ELLIOTT MINOR Associated Press TIFTON, Ga. 11/04/2005

Excessive rain and disease turned Georgia's 2005 flue-cured tobacco crop into one of the worst in memory and will probably provide the impetus for all but the most committed growers to call it quits, experts say. Virginia and North Carolina had excellent crops, but with disease outbreaks and some fields deluged with more than 30 inches of rain, Georgia's tobacco crop was a disaster, said University of Georgia tobacco specialist J. Michael Moore. "This is the worst-case scenario that we're aware of," he said. "Production costs outstripped yields and the value of the crop." Hahira grower Fred Wetherington, one of the state's leading tobacco farmers, said some growers have been forced to use money from the government buyout of their tobacco quotas to offset reduced yields, low prices and higher production costs. Congress approved the $10.1 billion buyout last fall to end a Depression-era quota system that had kept prices artificially high. Critics said the high prices made it difficult for U.S. growers to compete in the world market. With an end to the program, there's no longer a safety net to help growers survive difficult seasons. Now they sign contracts in January and February and deliver their tobacco directly to tobacco companies, instead of selling in the traditional auction warehouses. Tobacco auctions used to be a high point in the lives of many rural Georgians. The state had about 1,000 growers last year, but half of them quit after the buyout. Of the remaining 500, many were in their 50s or 60s and they had hoped to use the buyout money as a retirement fund. Instead, some had to dip into their buyout funds to make it through the season, Wetherington said. "I don't see how we could have stood this year without that buyout," he said. "I believe the buyout money prevented a lot of bankruptcies." A few weeks after Georgia's tobacco harvest ended in August, the U.S. Agriculture Department predicted a 27.2 million pound crop, with 16,000 acres harvested and average yields of 1,700 pounds per acre. But Moore, who has direct contact with growers throughout south Georgia's flue-cured belt, estimates the state's crop at only 21.6 million pounds, with 15,000 harvested acres and average yields of 1,438 pounds per acre. By comparison, Georgia produced 64 million pounds of tobacco in 1999, which was considered a good year. That year, growers harvested 33,000 acres and averaged 1,940 pounds per acre. With the average price of tobacco at $1.69 per pound in 1999, the crop was worth about $108 million, $75.8 million more than the $32.2 million estimated value of the 2005 crop. In 1999, Georgia tobacco sold for an average of $1.69 cents per pound, compared with an estimated $1.30 per pound this year. With the disastrous season behind them, another 100 Georgia growers may decide to drop out, Moore said. "I think after this horrible season, we will have some ... who say, 'I wish I hadn't grown a (tobacco) crop this summer and had to use the buyout money to pay bills,'" he said. "I would not be at all surprised if we don't lose another 20 percent." Enditem