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· Smokefree Policies
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· North Carolina
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Jump to full article: The Blue Banner (UNC Asheville, NC), 2009-11-19
Author: Jason Howell
Intro: North Carolina restaurants and bars go smoke-free in January, the result of a new state law. What may be an inconvenience for smokers impacts local tobacco farmers much more severely, several said.
"I've been farming tobacco for 47 years," said Neal Woody, a Leicester farmer who grows and sells tobacco. "My dad did the same thing. I grew up around tobacco as a kid. I tried some other things when I got older. I ran store on Leicester Highway and farmed a little while I took care of cattle, but I came back to tobacco full time around 1972."
Woody said his family business boomed until recent decades. The 64-year-old called the latest smoking ban another blow to growers who depend on it as a staple crop.
"I started out with about 130 acres, but now I'm down to 85," Woody said. "Things have changed since the buy out. They just keep taking away from farmers."
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