If you read this column shortly after receiving your newspaper, you are doing so while about 70 county Extension agents like me are counting the ballots that were cast in our counties today for the North Carolina Tobacco Research Check-Off Referendum. As I have prepared for this referendum during the past several weeks, it has caused me to reflect on what tobacco has meant to this county in the past and what the future may be for tobacco.

In 1991, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a bill that would allow burly and flue-cured tobacco growers in the state the opportunity to vote to decide if they would be willing to contribute 10 cents for every hundred pounds of tobacco they sold. This money, which has amounted to about $300,000 each year, would be used to fund tobacco research and provide educational opportunities for tobacco producers and others involved in the tobacco industry. Just like other commodity check-off programs, farmers agree to provide some of their own money for research, education, and marketing to help them remain competitive and profitable.

This money is deducted when the tobacco is sold and remitted to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. From there, it is provided to the North Carolina Tobacco Foundation, whose board of directors have final approval of how the funds will be spent.

Like other commodity check-off programs, provisions of the bill stated that growers must vote every six years to decide if they are willing to continue the voluntary contributions or not. That is what happened today.

Over the years, tobacco growers have approved this check-off by more than 90 percent margins. It appears that in spite of declining demand, marketing difficulties, rising production costs, and a harsh economy, most tobacco growers realize this check-off program has been good for them. Because of this I expect the trend to continue, and I predict this referendum will pass.

When I first came to work with Cooperative Extension in the early 80s, there were about 17,000 acres of tobacco planted in the county. Farmers received over $60 million when they sold their tobacco, and this money was then distributed throughout the county as they not only paid their fertilizer bills and tractor payments but also as they bought clothes for their family, new cars, new appliances, and the many other things normal families need.

By my estimates, at that time there were more than 750 individuals who received direct income from tobacco production. This included actual farmers and those in their families who worked on the farm in decision-making roles. It did not include their children who worked in tobacco because they were made to and other seasonal workers who earned most of their annual income during tobacco season.

This number also included many tobacco quota owners - most of who lived in the county but did not live on the farm where the tobacco was produced. But this number was probably much too low, because over the years, many estates with tobacco allotments had been divided so many times that there were often dozens of heirs, each receiving a small amount each year as their tobacco allotment was rented out to active producers.

But today, there are only about 4,000 acres of tobacco grown in the county. There is no longer a tobacco quota system. There are only about 40 individuals who receive direct income from the sale of tobacco. As the crop is sold this year, farmers will receive less than $20 million. This money will still be used to pay fertilizer bills and tractor payments and will still be used to buy clothes, cars, and refrigerators. But at the value of today's dollar, it will make a much, much smaller impact in the county.

What is the future for tobacco? We cannot argue the health issues. It has been proven over and over that using tobacco products is a health risk. But some argue that this should be an individual's choice.

All of us, even smokers, are adjusting to smoke-free environments. Most smokers no longer ask questions or plead for smokers' rights. They quietly excuse themselves to designated places out of respect and consideration of others.

Tobacco has been good to this county. It has paid many bills, and as the saying goes, "tobacco has sent many children to college." Tobacco paid for the building that serves as my office, the O. P. Owens Agriculture Center. How many thousands of people have gained from the use of this building since it was built in 1974?

Quite a few years ago following a tobacco growers meeting in our auditorium, a well-known local tobacco farmer and very vocal tobacco advocate was helping me clean off tables and pick up leftover educational bulletins. It had been a meeting with a sponsored meal, and as was the custom at that time, those attending the meeting were free to smoke if they wished. Our office was then equipped with a large supply of ashtrays provided by local businesses, each with business logos and advertisements. As we gathered up the ashtrays, I suggested to the tobacco farmer that he needed to start saving as many different ashtrays as he could find, because one day soon, they would be collectors' items. Without hesitation, his response was "people will always smoke."

Maybe. Maybe not.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 11/18/09