News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

March 3, 2003

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

Etheridge Talks Tobacco at Annual Congressional Farmers' Breakfast

RALEIGH - U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) told North Carolina farmers today that there is a window of opportunity for a tobacco buyout this year. Etheridge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and the subcommittee dealing with tobacco, spoke to farmers at his annual congressional Farmers' Breakfast at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh about his efforts in Congress to pass a tobacco buyout. Etheridge detailed the buyout bill he has introduced in Congress and provided an update on the status of a tobacco buyout in Congress.

"Tobacco country has been hurting for some time, and our farmers took another hard blow this year with a 9.5 percent quota cut," Etheridge said. "In Congress, we have a narrow window of opportunity to get a buyout, but with each passing day that window closes a little. I have re-introduced the Fletcher-Etheridge bill because it is the best deal out there for farmers, and I will work with my colleagues and with Congress to pass a buyout bill that will save our rural communities."

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.

This year, tobacco quota was cut 9.5 percent, the largest cut in a generation. Farmers will be allowed to grow 526.3 million pounds, just over half of what they were allowed to grow in 1997. A tobacco buyout would inject as much as $6 billion into North Carolina's economy.

   
   
   
   

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