Tobacco.org

• Amid industry uncertainties some tobacco farms grow  

RICHMOND -- Farming, David Ferrell says, "is all I ever wanted to do."

At age 20, the recent Virginia Tech grad sees a good future in farming, even for tobacco, a crop that has sustained his family's farm in Charlotte County for several generations.

Despite the many uncertainties in tobacco, including declining U.S. smoking rates, rising tobacco taxes and regulation of the industry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Ferrell and his brother, Kevin, 24, are investing in tobacco production. They are following in the footsteps of their father, Timmy, 50, who is still active in the operation.

"When I finished school and made my decision about coming back to the farm, I thought about whether there was a future in tobacco, and I think there is," David Ferrell said. "Tobacco will always be grown. How much I don't know, but I do feel it has a future."

He describes the farm as "a true agribusiness" now. Unlike the smaller tobacco farms of 10 or 20 acres limited by federal quotas attached to the land, theirs is an unregulated operation increasingly using mechanization, and producing 150 acres of leaf for tobacco companies on a contract basis.

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