Tobacco Buyout

There will be plenty of icy weather during Christmas, but what is leaving local tobacco farmers cold is the sudden loss of the promised Phase II money once slated to arrive from the tobacco industry this week or next. Instead, farmers received word that a North Carolina Business Court judge ruled Wednesday in favor of tobacco companies, releasing them from the required pay-outs of a 1998 settlement. Farmers who had expected the judge to rule in their favor were "shocked," said Dan Grigson, Lincoln County Cooperative Extension agent for agriculture.

The farming industry in Jessamine County has seen many changes over the years, but many farmers agree the biggest changes have come as a result of the 2004 tobacco buyout. "You don't see as many crops (tobacco) out," said long-time farmer Tommy Burton. "You can drive the roads, and you just don't see as much tobacco. It used to be that's all you ever saw around here. " Farms on the decline In 1997, Jessamine farmers produced 8.15 million pounds of tobacco on 3,988 acres devoted to the crop.

LANCASTER - Keith and Kevin Middleton have worked in tobacco alongside their dad all of their lives, but they realize there's still plenty to learn about growing and marketing the crop. "If we plan to stay in business, we need to learn as much as we can," says Keith Middleton. The 43-year-old Middleton twins want to continue the farm family tradition of their father, Maurice Middleton, foreman for the large Teater Brothers Farm for more than 40 years. Though many growers quit raising tobacco after the federal buyout, the Middletons decided to continue.

Kurt Lear of Garrard County has grown 40 crops of tobacco during his 65 years. What happened this morning at Farmers Tobacco Warehouse No. 1 in Danville was going to help him decide if he was going to grow a 41st crop. "With the price support program gone next year and no more guaranteed prices, it's going to be hard to keep growing," said Lear. "I'll see how my crop goes and then make a decision. " Lear's 2,000 pounds were the first crop on the warehouse floor to be up for sale this morning as the 2004 tobacco market - perhaps the last one - kicked off at 9:36 a.m. The first two bales, made of bottom-of-the-stalk "trash," went to the pool at their $1.94 per pound support prices, while his other two bales, comprised of top-of-the-stalk "tips," went for $2.03 and $2.06 per pound.

Nicole Adams, a 16-year-old junior at Garrard County High School, wears a T-shirt and jeans, her hair in a ponytail and a piercing in the top of her ear. She's soft spoken except when she talks about tobacco. "The lingo comes naturally. I started stripping tobacco when I was 5, and we have a festival around here devoted to the crops," Adams says, referring to the Tobacco Festival in Lancaster every September. Her parents and grandfather all have "public" jobs, Adams says, and they started renting out their tobacco quotas when she was 8; tobacco was already shaky when she started studying agriculture in the eighth grade.

For more than 80 years, the Boyle County Stockyards has operated from its location on Hope Street in downtown Danville. When it opened in 1924, it was one of the largest stockyards in central Kentucky, according to Miller Horn, one of its owners. The downtown location was chosen because of its proximity to the railroad tracks, he added, which were used to transport the livestock in those days. Despite its long history, many in Danville don't notice the stockyard except for the smell, which becomes even more apparent on Mondays when hundreds of cows are brought to town for the weekly sale.

A federal tobacco reform in October 2004 has changed the landscape of Jessamine County tobacco farming in 2011, Jessamine County Extension Agent Rob Amburgey said. “The tobacco buyout has significantly decreased the total amount of tobacco raised in Jessamine County,” he said. “It went from about 2,600 acres down to 400 acres now. We went from many, many tobacco farmers to about a dozen left in the county.” The Fair and Equitable Reform Act signaled the end of federal government intervention and left tobacco farmers to fend for themselves when it came time to sell their crop.

After years of talk and false starts, the tobacco quota buyout was finally enacted by Congress on Monday. Government support of tobacco prices has officially ended and farmers will begin receiving buyout payments in the 2005 fiscal year and continue getting checks through 2014. This means farmers will be paid in 10 equal installments once a year, over the next 10 years. The buyout does include provisions that allow lump sum or accelerated payments which will be handled through a financial institution, though details have not yet been completely outlined.

The Farm Service Agency for Lincoln, Garrard, Boyle and Mercer counties said 2013 tobacco buyout payments that were eligible to be made were paid on Jan. 15. If you have a direct deposit on file, check with your bank to verify deposit. If you changed bank accounts and did not inform FSA of the change, your payment has probably been returned. You will need to come to the office to revise your direct deposit.  Anyone who does not have a direct deposit on file will receive a paper check, but it will take longer to receive.

North Carolina Special Superior Court Judge Ben F. Tennille ordered the tobacco companies to make the fourth quarter 2004 Phase II tobacco payment. Tennille ruled on Oct. 20 that the tobacco companies must make the 2004 fourth quarter payment within 10 business days. The order also stated that the companies are required to pay 8 percent interest from the Dec. 15, 2004 until the payment is made. "Judge Tennille's ruling today affirms our position from the very beginning that the entire 2004 payment should have been made by the tobacco companies regardless of when the tobacco buyout was passed," Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said in a prepared statement.