ASAP releases a report on the end of tobacco.

[The Grand Nudger]

With all the crap ag news coming out...this is a breath of fresh air.

the conclusion -

The end of the federal tobacco program had a dramatic impact on the farms and communities of the burley tobacco growing region of WNC. Burley tobacco, and the federal program that supported it, uniquely protected the small farms that dominate the mountainous region of North Carolina. Anticipating the impact the loss of tobacco would have on communities, a group of farmers and citizens launched a local food campaign in 2000 to provide farmers with alternatives to tobacco. Localizing markets for farmers, it was hoped, would provide a place-based solution that engaged the greater community in the future of farming for the region. An analysis of the data from the Census of Agriculture period from just before the 1998 MSA to just after the end of federal support for tobacco with the passage of the 2004 Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act provided the opportunity to analyze the changes in agriculture in the region as they related to tobacco and local food production. The findings are striking - the region has all but lost tobacco while concurrently and significantly shifting to food production and local sales. Though the region did experience a dramatic loss of farms with the end of tobacco, the census period just after the 2004 buyout shows the region’s farm loss leveled off with a rate far less than the state and US loss rates. While local food has not replaced tobacco as a means of livelihood for the farmers of the region, it has emerged as a leading new direction for agriculture

http://asapconnections.org/

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-some gems, but you'd have to slog through the report (it;s a quick read) in transition..is that there were a significant number of producers who went from burley to melons.   Gotta make you smile.  Cancer sticks to cantaloupes.

[vorlon13]

In the US tobacco kills more than 480,000 people annually – more than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined.

You can add police shootings, pitbulls, and lightning to that if you want.

[The Grand Nudger]

It's production hasn't been treating rural america well, either.

[Amarok]

It's time this horrific product die .

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

'My grandfather never smoked a day in his life, and cigarettes STILL killed him.'  'How is that possible?'  'A tobacco lorry ran over his nice, clean lungs.'

(old Spike Milligan joke)

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I quit cold turkey in 1988. If I hadn't I'd been long dead by now.

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With all the crap ag news coming out...this is a breath of fresh air.

the conclusion -

The end of the federal tobacco program had a dramatic impact on the farms and communities of the burley tobacco growing region of WNC. Burley tobacco, and the federal program that supported it, uniquely protected the small farms that dominate the mountainous region of North Carolina. Anticipating the impact the loss of tobacco would have on communities, a group of farmers and citizens launched a local food campaign in 2000 to provide farmers with alternatives to tobacco. Localizing markets for farmers, it was hoped, would provide a place-based solution that engaged the greater community in the future of farming for the region. An analysis of the data from the Census of Agriculture period from just before the 1998 MSA to just after the end of federal support for tobacco with the passage of the 2004 Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act provided the opportunity to analyze the changes in agriculture in the region as they related to tobacco and local food production. The findings are striking - the region has all but lost tobacco while concurrently and significantly shifting to food production and local sales. Though the region did experience a dramatic loss of farms with the end of tobacco, the census period just after the 2004 buyout shows the region’s farm loss leveled off with a rate far less than the state and US loss rates. While local food has not replaced tobacco as a means of livelihood for the farmers of the region, it has emerged as a leading new direction for agriculture

http://asapconnections.org/

---

-some gems, but you'd have to slog through the report (it;s a quick read) in transition..is that there were a significant number of producers who went from burley to melons.   Gotta make you smile.  Cancer sticks to cantaloupes.

And the meth business is booming too. No more nasty tobaccy, hurt the lungs.

[rskovride]

It's production hasn't been treating rural america well, either.

idk if anyone was getting rich off tobacco.  It was a family event when it was time to sort and bale and I don't remember seeing any Rolls Royce tractors or BIG ASS CHAINS.  It was a way to make a living and a dam hard one at that.

[Minimalist]

A 2003 report.

http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-conten...L30947.pdf

Examination of historical tobacco data reveals a declining long-term trend in the
utilization of tobacco by U.S. manufacturers and leaf exporters. While world tobacco
exports increased over the past two decades, U.S. leaf tobacco exports declined in
relative and absolute terms. Cigarette manufacturers have been increasing the use of
less expensive foreign tobacco and decreasing the use of more costly U.S.-grown
tobacco. Now, actions taken asa result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement
between cigarette manufacturers and states’ attorneys general are further diminishing
the consumption of tobacco products in the United States. Cigarette exports also
have been declining recently in contrast to a history of growth.

As smoking in the US has declined precipitously the tobacco companies are content to poison the third world.

[The Grand Nudger]

We had some locals getting rich of tobacco insurance fraud, recently..but..yeah, it's always been a shitty living.  Worse now, but still there's not alot else for tobacco producers to do until someone can show them a proven crop that will work in their region - hence the value of this study.

[rskovride]

Hemp and papver somniferum would work.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/americ...na-n764801