News Release - Etheridge, House Agriculture Committee Hold Hearing on Tobacco Buyout

News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

July 24, 2003

Contact: Sara Lang
Phone: (202) 225-4531

Etheridge, House Agriculture Committee
Hold Hearing on Tobacco Buyout

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington), the only flue-cured tobacco farmer in Congress, joined his colleagues on the Agriculture Committee in the House of Representatives today for the first full committee hearing on a tobacco buyout. This is the first step toward passing a tobacco buyout bill out of the committee and moving it through Congress. Etheridge, who has long-advocated for a tobacco buyout to boost North Carolina's economy, has been working for several months to line up support for the H.R. 245, the Fletcher-Etheridge bill.

"Today's hearing, which brought together farmers, companies, health groups and Members of Congress for the first time, is an encouraging and positive step towards a buyout," Etheridge said. "But Congress needs to move faster. We have a narrow window of opportunity to get a buyout done this year, but that window is quickly closing. We must act now and keep the process moving forward. The Republican leadership in Congress and in the Administration needs to get on board. With each passing day, farmers are getting more and more insecure about their futures. A tobacco buyout will relieve them of their insecurity provide them with a path toward a prosperous tomorrow."

Today's hearing included testimony from panels of Members of Congress, tobacco growers, tobacco companies and health groups. Billy Carter of Carter Farms in Eagle Springs, North Carolina, was one of the growers who testified to the importance of a buyout. Keith Parrish of Benson also submitted written testimony to the committee.

"I can think of no one single thing that would revitalize the rural economy of tobacco producing states any more efficiently or thoroughly than a quota buyout," Carter testified.

This year, tobacco quota was cut 9.5 percent, the largest cut in a generation. Farmers were allowed to grow 526.3 million pounds, about half of what they were allowed to grow in 1997. There are over 12,000 tobacco farmers in North Carolina, and more than 250,000 jobs in the state are tied to tobacco. A tobacco buyout would inject nearly $6 billion into rural North Carolina's economy.

Under the Fletcher-Etheridge Bill, quota owners would receive payments based on $8 per pound, and producers would receive payments based on $4 per pound. The bill also would preserve a safety net for tobacco farmers by maintaining price support for tobacco and establishing a licensing system for farmers wishing to continue to grow tobacco. Those growers willing to forfeit forever their eligibility for a license would get an additional payment based on $2 per pound.

The Fletcher-Etheridge Bill would make payments based on the 1998 quota totals. Both producers and quota owners would receive payments in proportion to an average of 2001 and 2002 quotas. Payments will be made in equal sums during the 2003-2007 crop years; however, individuals who own less than 1,000 pounds of quota would get the total payment in the first year.