Tobacco Rally Set for Monday

Source from:  By Jeff Helsdon - Staff Writer Wednesday March 22, 2006 The Tillsonburg New 03/23/2006

RALLY: Organizational meeting slated for Thursday in Langton The latest farm protest planned will involve illegal sale of flue-cured tobacco. Monday morning at the Delhi auction exchange, bales of tobacco will go up for sale. This won't be the usual auction that takes place inside the building though. This sale will be outside and all the money will go to farmers. Randy Hillier, president of the Ontario Landowners' Association, said the government is bringing in billions of dollars in taxes, the big three tobacco companies posted $1.5 billion in profits in 2004 and the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board is making a profit. Meanwhile, farmers are going broke. "It's a serious and significant case of injustice for tobacco farmers," he said. "It's not a problem for just 500 to 600 farmers. So should we just sit back and allow destruction of rural economics while three big companies and government make money and the tobacco farmer just gets screwed." Local organizer and OLA affiliate Oxford Norfolk Elgin Landowners president John VanDaele said tobacco farmers are going through the worst market since 1957. Acreage in 2005 was also the smallest crop in 50 years and the lowest gross margin per acre since the board was established. "If tobacco farmers were dogs, the humane society would have stepped in a long time ago," he said. "Nobody would allow a dog to be treated the way tobacco farmers are treated. "We want to go and the government is forcing us to stay. We've been beat. They've declared war on us and they won." Forget licences, Hillier said of the Monday sale of tobacco. The tobacco will be sold to anybody who wants it. Asked who will be conducting the auction, Hillier said those details are still being worked out. During the day, workshops and demonstrations will be held on how to cut and blend tobacco using household appliances. "So people can make a cottage industry out of tobacco," Hillier explained. Asked about the possibility of losing quota as a penalty for selling outside the auction exchange, VanDaele, said, "It there's a whole bunch of bales there, whose are they?" Asked what he hope to accomplish through this protest, Hillier said the "irreparable damage" being done to farmers and the economy of rural Ontario has to be demonstrated to the public . He said cigarette manufacturers closing plants in rural areas hurt the economy while a handful of companies derive what he called "obscene" profits. "We have to demonstrate this is unfair, unjust and can't be tolerated," he said. VanDaele said tobacco farmers have been quiet over the past couple of months and hopes they haven't given up the fight. "Now is the time to make a stand and demand accountability from all Tobacco Advisory Committee members, including the board," he said. An organizational meeting is planned for Thursday night. It will start at 8 p.m. at the Langton Community Centre. VanDaele encouraged all farmers concerned about the future to show up to the meeting to hear all the details prior to the rally. Besides tobacco farmers, he appealed to bar owners, variety store owners and others who will be affected by the provincewide smoking ban for support. Hillier said plans are to involve smokers' rights groups as well. In the meantime, VanDaele is facing the same dilemma as other tobacco farmers. Last year he grew 55 acres of tobacco on two farms. Despite growing what he considered an excellent crop, he ended up losing money. Time to seed greenhouses is fast approaching. "You can't put a greenhouse in not knowing the crop size," he said. "Do I put in half a greenhouse? A quarter greenhouse? What's the price going to be?" There is one way Monday's protest can be averted. VanDaele said all that's needed is a government announcement of the total exit plan for tobacco farmers the board has been working on. "We want to go and the government is forcing us to stay. We've been beat. They've declared war on us and they won." Enditem