Posted on 09/16/2002 10:12:51 PM PDT by chance33_98
Weary farmers ready for buyout
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Michael Collins Post Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — Tobacco fed Mark Litzinger when he was a boy on his parents' farm. It feeds him now that he's grown and has a farm and family of his own.
Litzinger knows as well as anyone the story of tobacco's rich past and its questionable future.
But if the federal government is willing to buy him out, he's willing to accept the offer.
"I think this is going to be a onetime offer for us to get some money,'' Litzinger said.
"I think we should take it,'' he said.
Just a few years ago, tobacco farmers across the state dismissed talk of a buyout as something cooked up by people who had no concept of what the crop has meant to Kentucky families and communities.
But today the prospect of a buyout has gained wide acceptance among Kentucky farmers, even those who once outright rejected the idea.
Huge cuts in the tobacco quota, problems in hiring adequate farm labor and a drought that resulted in a poor-quality crop have made the prospect of a buyout more appealing.
"The overwhelming majority of farmers want a buyout,'' said Gary Huddleston, spokesman for the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation. "They attach an enormous amount of significance to the buyout issue.''
Like Litzinger, most of the tobacco growers in Mason County are ready to take a buyout, said Bill J. Peterson, the county's agriculture extension agent.
"There has been so much uncertainty within the tobacco pro<147,1,1>gram in the last five years in particular,'' Peterson said. "They just haven't been able to plan ahead or make progress in it.
"The quotas have been cut so much that those who are tied to the farm and made a living off of it have had a hard time getting enough pounds together to make it economically viable for them to go and produce.''
Litzinger, 38, has a 2,000-acre corn, tobacco, soybean and cattle farm in Germantown on the Mason-Bracken County line.
A few years ago, he would never have considered taking a buyout.
But since 1998, the government has cut his tobacco quota in half — from 20,000 to 9,000 pounds — and sliced his income in the process.
"I don't see it going back to the level it was,'' he said.
Given those circumstances, a buyout sounds like a good idea, Litzinger said.
Some farmers who take a buyout would stop growing tobacco altogether. Others would continue raising the crop but would do so either without a federal tobacco program or under one that is vastly different from the quota system currently in place.
One proposal pushed by U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., of Lexington, would pay quota holders $8 per pound and growers $4 per pound. An extra $2 per pound would be paid to farmers who agree to stop growing tobacco permanently.
But Fletcher's legislation may run into trouble in Congress, in part because it would keep in place a federal price-support program.
The program would be restructured so that farmers who want to grow tobacco would have to apply for permits. No one could grow tobacco without a permit, which would keep quota holders from selling or leasing out their allotment.
But many senators don't believe that is a true buyout and would be reluctant to support it, said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of Louisville.
Another problem is how to pay for a buyout. Imposing a fee on tobacco companies or raising the federal cigarette tax are options, but a tax increase would be a hard sell in Congress, McConnell said.
"The challenge that lies ahead of course is how do you structure a buyout in such a way that you have some chance of legislative success,'' McConnell said.
He doesn't expect Congress to act on a buyout plan this year.
McConnell's opponent in the November election, Democrat Lois Combs Weinberg, said she would support a buyout as long as it gives farmers who want to continue growing the crop the option of doing so.
A buyout also must include a "safety net'' of insurance and loans so that upfront money will be available to farmers for equipment and planting, Weinberg said. She suggested paying for the program by placing a fee on tobacco companies.
Litzinger said he might try to keep on growing tobacco even if the government offers a buyout and he accepts. But a lot of the farmers he knows see a buyout as a chance to leave the tobacco business for good.
"They're old men,'' he said. "They need to take a buyout. They'd better grab it.''
Do you own a home? Does it have a mortgage on it? Do you deduct the mortgage interest on your tax return?
Let's say you're two years into a 30-year mortgage. What if the federal government told you that, starting tomorrow, you could only deduct half the interest? And that, in a few years, you wouldn't be able to deduct any of it?
You would've entered into an arrangement, with your finances predicated on a certain set of rules. Then, the government changed the rules on you. These changes are sufficiently severe that they might threaten your ability to afford your home.
Wouldn't you be concerned, just like these farmers are?
The complex system of subsidies, quotas, incentives and penalties that constitute the "farm program" is a disgrace, to be sure. But it's no more "welfare" than your mortgage deduction.
There would go the idea to grow your own tobacco.
Another problem is how to pay for a buyout. Imposing a fee on tobacco companies or raising the federal cigarette tax are options, but a tax increase would be a hard sell in Congress, McConnell said.
And you KNOW where the tax would come from. They ain't gonna tax EVERYBODY, just the SMOKERS!
Gotta love that dry sense of humor on you, Loki.
Joe, people all over the country are growing their own weed
Yes, and looking over their shoulder every time a helicopter or low flying plane goes over.
Checking their windows every time a siren is heard.
I don't want to HAVE to do that if I decide to grow a completely LEGAL product.
If this was ever to be approved you KNOW they would take the wording to mean that ONLY certain people could grow tobacco, even for their own use.
How about imported tobacco? How would this be affected, or is this just in the States?
This is just the tobacco farmers in the States. Maybe just in Kentucky. I'm not sure yet.
You have FReepmail.
You ALREADY have to have permission to grow "backy" commercially. Farmers in tobacco-growing states have a certain amount of acreage that they're allowed to grow the leaf on, and that's called their "base." You can only grow, under most circumstances, the base you have. I'm not in the industry, but if I recall kee-reckly, the base is expressed in poundage. If you sell the farm, the base goes to the buyer.
And there is no prohibition on growing tobacco for your own use. It's an awful lot of work, but if you want to and you can get the stuff to grow, knock yourself out.
Michael
There is not, AT PRESENT, any prohibition on growing tobacco for your own use.
Let them word this thing just right and watch. It WILL be against the law for ANYONE to grow tobacco without a permit.
Yup,I want somebody to justify a welfare program for rich tobacco farmers to me. I have a cousin who rented out his gooberment-approved tobacco growing monolopy for $20,000 a year,and never even got his hands dirty. Hell,he didn't even live in the state where the family farm was! This didn't count the money he got for the rights to drill for natural gas or oil,or the money he got from sharecropping and rental. He was a millionaire running construction crews in another state the whole time.
Look at the guy in the story. He has 2,000 acres,and wants US to "buy him out". What he MEANS by this is he wants US to pay him for NOT growing tobacco. Hell,I've been "not growing tobacco" my whole life! Where's MY money? As far as that goes,what is to prevent him from growing OTHER crops on the land he had been growing tobacco on?
Because they have gotten it for generations now,and have come to expect it as their due. How else do you think King Franklin and the Dims bought votes in the south and other rural areas?
Exactly HOW have tobacco farmers gotten money 'for generations now' from the g'ovt??
Please be specific, and please only describe how TOBACCO farmers get money from the g'ovt.
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