Final Tobacco Auction Leaves Growers Happy

Source from:  By: By BOB HURLEY/Columnist The Greeneville Sun 01-19-2006  01/20/2006

The final auction of the 2005 burley tobacco growing season left Greeneville-area growers mostly happy on Wednesday. "I didn't hear a single farmer complaining today," said Dallas Ottinger, manager of the Co-Op Tobacco Warehouse, on West Main Street, where the auction was held. "I think they realize that this is just a pretty good alternative market to the receiving stations in East Tennessee," he added. The auction was the second and last of the marketing season for Greeneville, which is without a receiving station. The two receiving stations serving growers in Greene and surrounding counties are located at Boones Creek in Washington County and at Phipps Bend in Hawkins County. Figures from Wednesday's auction at the Co-Op show that 31,728 pounds sold for $50,047.49, an average of $1.58 per pound. "Considering everything, I think the auction went well," said Ben Thompson, of Afton, a member of the board of directors of the Burley Stabilization Corporation (BSC), which sponsored the auctions in Greeneville and other towns in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. "And the really good part is the fact that the auctions are nailed down for at least one more year," Thompson said. Charlie Finch, of Knoxville, managing director of the BSC, says he hopes that the auctions will continue well into the future. "We are committed to providing an alternative market for our tobacco growers," Finch said, "but due to circumstances beyond our control, we can only commit to one year at a time right now." More than 99 percent of the growers in East Tennessee have sold directly to tobacco companies at receiving stations during the current marketing season, Finch and other burley leaders have said, but the BSC-sponsored auctions are expected to grow next year. "I think we will see a lot more growers using this auction next year," Ottinger said. "We were a little slow in getting the word out on the 2005 crop, but now all our growers know we are going to be open for business for the 2006 crop." Growers at Wednesday's auction were expressing delight that the auction system has indeed been made available by the BSC. "This is the best thing to come along since we lost the tobacco program," said Charlie Hensley, a grower from the 107 Cutoff. "And this is the last hope we have of holding the feet of the tobacco companies to the fire. With this auction, the companies know we have another place to sell our crop." Other growers have referred to the BSC auctions as a "safety net" and "a court of last resort." Enditem