N.C. Tobacco Farmers to Get $152M

Source from:  bizjournals.com 12/19/2005

More than $152 million will be distributed to almost 77,000 North Carolina tobacco growers and quota holders in the final quota payout of the year, Gov. Mike Easley said Friday. The quota payments come from the Phase II Trust Fund and are part of a settlement reached by attorneys general and governors of 14 tobacco-producing states and four major tobacco manufacturers to restructure the tobacco industry and help defray medical costs of tobacco-related illnesses for states. The Phase II payments were designed to offset losses experienced by tobacco farmers and quota owners as a result of declines in cigarette sales after the Phase I settlement. Phase II payments will end this year due to the tobacco buyout and the end of the quota system. Checks for the burley and flue-cured tobacco farmers that were not mailed Friday will be sent out on Monday. Enditem