Tobacco Farmers Finally Get a Deal

Source from:  Matthew Scholtz Friday December 30, 2005 The Tillsonburg News 12/31/2005

(December 1985) Anxious tobacco farmers finally achieved a deal on their 1985 crop, twenty years ago this week. After a month of angry protests, a deal was cobbled together in the office of federal Agriculture Minister John Wise. The entire 170 million pound crop of tobacco would be purchased at a price of $1.76/pound. Richard Bozek, Vice-Chairman of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board, admitted, "We're certainly not happy with the overall price, but there was nothing else we could do at the moment.' In assessing the agreement, Bozek said that reaction among tobacco farmers would range from relief that a deal was finally hammered out, to dismay over the low price for the crop. Bozek added that even with a deal now in place, he expected that about 200 farmers will be bankrupt in the new year, although the total leaving the industry in 1986 could go as high as 600. Trying to find the silver lining, Bozek said, "There are a lot of good things we got out of this for the future." However, he didn't specify just what those "good things" might be. With the deal signed, sealed and delivered, many area merchants breathed a sigh of relief that farmers would be back in business and once again contributing to the local economy. Many merchants feared that their Christmas sales would take a devastating hit if local farmers weren't in a financial position to go shopping for gifts. Bill Carroll of Carroll Brothers Hardware probably spoke for many downtown merchants when he said, "I don't think anybody has anything to write home about, but we're holding our own." Whether a majority of tobacco farmers could also hold their own in the new year would be another issue. Enditem