By Rebecca Feldhaus
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-901226.mp3
Murray, KY – Tobacco has even been cause for wars. In the early 1900's the American Tobacco Association or ATC had a monopoly over tobacco prices. In areas near Hopkinsville, many farmers weren't making profit from the low fixed price offered from the ATC. When the Dark Tobacco District Planters' Protective Association failed to protect farmers, vigilantes took up the burden. Men called the "night riders" sewed salt in tobacco fields, whipped farmers, and dynamited tobacco warehouses in Elkton, Kentucky. Finally, tobacco prices went up and farmers could make a profit.
So why is so much grown on this side of I-65? Princeton Extension Dark Tobacco Agent Andy Bailey says the flat fields of the Purchase Area give it an advantage over the rolling hills, knobs and mountains of Central and Eastern Kentucky, and not just in tobacco. It's a give and take. Because so many crops have been raised in this area, including corn, soybeans and wheat, the soil has high levels of phosphorus and potassium. And farmers chose to grow here because of the deep top soil, it's a helpful cycle.
This year's tobacco crop is already in the works. In early March, farmers begin their seeds in watery conditions within the shelter of a green house. And right now, in early to mid May, farmers transplant their seedlings. By October, tobacco twisters are in the fields doing what many call the hardest physical work on earth. On a lazy autumn Sunday drive, smoking barns around the region hold lucrative contents, curing to perfection. Air-cured tobacco takes about six to eight weeks and fire-cured take five to seven weeks to fully cure.
According to information from the University of Kentucky, Kentucky ranks second only to North Carolina as top tobacco producer in the United States. Kentucky is deemed the most tobacco-dependent state in the nation. Bailey says only about half of the state's burley crop stays in the country, but 80 to 85 percent of dark tobacco is sold domestically. Other countries that produce large quantities of tobacco include Brazil, China and many countries in Africa.
In 2004 the economic landscape of tobacco farming changed dramatically. As mentioned earlier the federal government operated the tobacco system from the 1930s. The federal ownership had two main selling points. University of Kentucky Agriculture Economics professor and extension agent Dr. Will Snell explains those points.
"One it had a price support which set the minimum price for U-S tobacco and two it had production controls which limited how much each individual farm could sell."
The federally-run quota system doled out allotments to tobacco farmers across the country somewhat like a license. If a farmer grew more and wanted to sell it, he would have to rent more quotas. When paying for additional quotas, production costs raise, thus detracting from annual income. Snell explains the great effect of the system.
"By limiting the amount that tobacco growers could sell, it effectively raised the price of U-S tobacco and just simply our price got out of line with the world market and we had a lot of growers who had these quota of production rates who were no longer growing the crop."
And those farmers did get out. The buyout meant the government provided annual transitional payments to quota-holding farmers. Some farmers chose to take the lump sum, and some spread it out over the allotted 10-year period. Snell says most small-time farmers quit because it was not cost effective to continue growing on a small level. The National Agricultural Statistics Service notes that there were approximately 45,000 farms in Kentucky in 1997, and ten years later only 8,000 farms remained. In Trigg County, Bob Lawrence's father owned a quota for 50 acres of dark tobacco. He took the buyout and kept farming.
"I don't know of any of them that didn't go ahead and put it back into the economy, by hiring people to build barns. Putting it back into infrastructures is what most of the people did."
The amount of money paid per farmer depends on variables including the poundage or acreage allowed in their quota and previous years' production rates. Lawrence explains his own experience.
"It couldn't have been any better for us, I don't think, I don't see how it could have. Because the three years that they based the tobacco buyout on were our three largest years that we ever grew tobacco."
Lawrence used his lump sum funding to buy land, tractors and other equipment. He wasn't the only one. Now, the Lawrence's land totals about 4,000 acres. They use less than a fourth of that acreage to grow his dark tobacco, a type used in smokeless tobacco products like snuff.
The buyouts overall effect on Western Kentucky is substantial. A lot of tobacco was grown in Central Kentucky, and still is, but a large shift happened in 2004. Production increased in Western Kentucky, mostly in dark tobacco. Calloway County Agriculture Extension Agent Todd Powell cites the rich soil in Western Kentucky as part of the move. According to statistics from University of Kentucky, the increase of overall agricultural cash receipts from 1998 to 2008 in most of Western Kentucky was 25 percent or more. In dollars terms, Kentucky's cash receipt as close to $4.6 billion in 1998 and in 10 years that number neared $6 billion. It would stand to reason that tobacco was a large part of that gain. Will Snell gives another perspective for the increase.
"You have more full-time farmers in that part of the state, I would say a little bit more aggressive farmers and when the opportunities allow them to grow more after the buyout, many of those farmers took advantage of it."
In Lawrence's opinion, the federal government handled the transition fairly. He doesn't express any plans to get out of the tobacco industry any time soon. Todd Powell says, for this region, it's a reliable choice.
"Between Calloway and Graves, you go back and forth year to year, but you're looking at those two counties are the top dark-tobacco-producing counties in the state - if not the world. It's a major cash crop for this area and I truly see it continuing to be a major cash crop."
Andy Bailey says the average total annual income from tobacco for Kentucky and Tennessee combined is $175 million. This combines revenue from dark and burley tobacco. Dark tobacco's demand continues. With changes in fertilizer, equipment and soil preparation who knows where tobacco will be in another 40 years?