Tobacco Farmers Press for Exit Strategy

Source from:  Saturday March 11, 2006 By Kyle Rea Times-Journal Staff 03/13/2006

Local tobacco producers are calling on the federal government for help in saying goodbye to their dying industry. Meeting with growers this week in Tillsonburg, the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board laid out the future of their industry, one in which eliminating tobacco production in Ontario may be the only option. [img border=0 hspace="4" vspace="4" align="left" src=http://www.tobaccochina.com/english/picture/62571.jpg] "All the trends and data show continuing declines in legal sales. That's no secret …. The writing is on the wall and we see that our existence is finite," said chairman Fred Neukamm. International and national regulations as well as declining sales and burgeoning illegal smuggling are all linked to the decline. A crop is still expected for 2006. "We feel that government has some responsibility and if they want us to … be productive members of society, they have to help us get out of this." There are about 650 tobacco producers in Ontario, 100 of which are in Elgin county. Elgin is responsible for about 15 per cent of production, said Neukamm. Ontario and the federal government chipped in $50 million in 2005 that helped 200 growers leave the industry, but Neukamm and others don't want a partial plan for 2006: they want a full and comprehensive exit strategy as soon as possible. A negotiated exit plan is exactly what Joe Preston, MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London wants as well. Preston took over the tobacco file from Human Resources Minister Diane Finley (MP Haldimand-Norfolk) just after January's election. Preston said Finley asked him to take over the file due to her commitments as HR minister. Preston already has some plans in mind to deal with the current problem. "I think the message has been pretty clear from all levels of government and manufacturers … the only thing we can plan is a true exit from the industry," he said. "They've made it almost impossible to stay in the industry and make money. We've taken so many farmers out of the industry and made it so easy to import (tobacco), we have so many (illegal) cigarettes that we've almost went beyond where the tobacco farming family can survive growing tobacco in their fields." Preston said he will work with the tobacco marketing board, manufacturers, banks and both levels of government for an exit package. He doesn't know when negotiation might get started. Enditem