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End of quota system, decline of small farmers cited as causes
Jump to full article: The Tennessean, 2007-04-15
Author: CLAY CAREY Staff Writer
Intro: Tobacco warehouses dotted the landscape around Springfield’s public square, symbols of the big business that tobacco was.
Today, the metal arch is gone. With auctions a thing of the past, most of the old warehouses have been boarded up or converted into other businesses. Robertson County, like other counties in Tennessee, is experiencing a decline in the production of tobacco, a crop that once fueled the economies of farming communities across the state.
Tennessee may soon drop out of the club of the biggest tobacco producers altogether, state Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens said. The end of federal price supports for tobacco farmers and the demise of Tennessee’s smaller-scale family farms are part of the story. . . .
According to a recently released USDA report, 750 fewer acres of tobacco will be planted in the Volunteer State this year than were set out last year. If the forecast is correct, 2007 will mark the eighth straight year that tobacco planting has fallen in Tennessee.
The state’s downward turn goes against the national trend — prices crashed in 2005, driving many away from the crop, but tobacco farmers across the country planted more acres in 2006 than they did in 2005, and are expected to plant more this year than last.
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