7/25 By MARK POWELL

At least 293 Southern Maryland tobacco farmers say they will take state money to get out of the business that has been a part of the region’s cultural makeup since Colonial times.
The Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland surveyed more than 1,100 producers in June at the request of the legislature to see just how many farmers would take a $1 per pound deal from the state never to grow tobacco again.
Bobby Swann, director of the Tri-County Council, said the surveys were sent out to farmers on the list the state agriculture department developed to notify producers of the tobacco companies’ fund to compensate producers from the side agreement of the “Master Settlement” of the states attorney general lawsuit.
“We got back 408 responses from the more than 1,100 sent out,” Swann said. In addition to the 293 who said they would take a buyout, 26 percent of those answering the survey said they would like more information on the program. Swann said he expected that probably half of those would accept the buyout.
Calvert County tobacco producer Earl “Buddy” Hance said the Tri-County Council’s survey was an accurate reflection of the sentiment of many farmers. “They’re tired,” he said.
Swann pointed out that many tobacco farmers are older, with an average age of 62. Some observers say that producers see the “handwriting on the wall” for the tobacco industry and want to get out of the business anyway.
Charles County farmer Steven Walter though isn’t all that old, 39, and he intends to take the buyout along with his father and uncle. Walter said this year’s tobacco auction made it clear for farmers. “A lot of tobacco went home or sold for 40 cents,” he said. That price is just too low, he said. “There’s a lack of demand.”
Walter said with the exception of Amish farmers, all the tobacco producers he’s talked to will take the buy out.
Others though, say the industry is still viable.
In fact, both Hance and University of Maryland tobacco agent Dave Conrad said this year’s crop is terrific. “It’ll be paper thin,” Hance said. Conrad said it could compare to 1996, a crop that produced some 5 million pounds for the export market at more than $2 a pound.
A tiny percentage of those returning the survey showed interest in a program designed to transition farmers out of tobacco, instead of buying them out of it. And 4 percent said they intended to keep on producing.
Under the buyout agreement — crafted by the legislature to help tobacco farmers suffering from the cigarette industries’ declining fortunes — farmers sign a contract binding them not to produce tobacco and to keep their land in agriculture for the 10 years of the program.
Swann estimated that the average tobacco farmer would get an annual payment of $20,000 from the state for the next decade, or about $200,000 total.
Swann and others say the participation rate for the buyout could mean there is more demand than the $2.5 million slated to be dispersed in Fiscal Year 2000 and the $9 million in Fiscal Year 2001. Currently, Swann said, the state legislature has embargoed the funding, waiting for the results of the farmer survey. With the results in hand, legislative proponents of the program, such as Sen. Mac Middleton from Charles County and St. Mary’s County Delegate Johnny Woods, are expected to free up the legislature’s approval.
The governor’s office has also indicated some willingness to provide more money for the buyout if there truly is a significant interest on the part of tobacco farmers.
Maryland Farm Bureau encouraged the governor to do so in a letter sent last week. In the July 20 letter, MFB President Steve Weber told Gov. Parris Glendening, “Maryland’s tobacco farm families are essentially being forced out of tobacco production. You have stated very clearly that you would like to close the book on the tradition of tobacco in Maryland. Please do not close the book on tobacco growers of the state. Maryland’s tobacco farm families need your help to transition from the crop that has been the heart of the Southern Maryland agricultural economy.”
Weber urged the governor to increase its support of the state’s crop conversion task force programs to help Southern Maryland’s farmers.
The buyout survey has received quite a bit of attention in the past few weeks, with a Page 1 article in the Baltimore Sun headlined, “Program might snuff out tobacco as major Md. crop.”
That fact has Extension’s Conrad and others worried.
“There is concern down South about what’s going on in Maryland,” Conrad said, referring to domestic cigarette manufacturers in North Carolina and Virginia. “They’re watching it very carefully.”
Foreign companies are watching too. A Swiss news agency contacted tobacco interests in Maryland last week to discuss the industry. Switzerland is a major buyer of Maryland tobacco.
Conrad and others note, however, that it is too early to count out Maryland’s tobacco industry. With this year’s expected strong crop and with no one yet committed to the buyout, it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen.
The Tri-County Council’s Swann said he anticipated having informational meetings in September on the buy-out program, with an October goal of starting the process of offering contracts. Hance said the contract’s final draft should be done within the month.