Tobacco, once a multi-million dollar crop in Richmond County, is on a serious decline based on participation in a referendum taken earlier this month.

“We actually did not have any participants in the program,” said Paige Burns, interim county extension director. “Did that surprise me?”

Taylor Williams, agricultural extension agent from Moore County and former director of the Richmond County extension office, said that a little over 10 years ago Richmond County had more than 50 tobacco farmers.

“As recently as 1997, tobacco was a $6 million or $7 million crop in Richmond County,” Williams said. “It’s still raised, but by very, very few people.”

“There’s less than a handful for sure (tobacco farmers),” Burns said. “Definitely a decline from when I started.”

According to Burns, the issue isn’t that tobacco farms across the state are on the decline, but rather that farmers have moved from out of the county.

Tobacco production in North Carolina has actually risen over the past five years, although the majority is grown east of I-95, Williams said.

Since the tobacco buyouts this past decade, producers began selling product through larger companies which in turn devalued the tobacco from $1.93 a pound, to $1.50. Likewise, on average it costs a farmer approximately $3,600 to care for and farm an acre of tobacco, according to Williams.

The return for the farmer is around $3,700.

Farming tobacco in Richmond County is not as cheap as it once was and nearby counties can farm the same crop, but for much less because aquifers are closer to the surface and there is a better market.

Flue-cured tobacco is traditionally what local farmers grew.

With the rate of tobacco exports on the rise, the referendum put to a vote the continuation of an assessment of one-fifth of one cent per pound to pay for export promotion programs.

“This is a way to provide funding historically to help Tobacco Associates move product in a foreign market,” Burns said. “There’s a higher exportation outside the United States (than domestically).”

Two-thirds of the eligible voters participating in the referendum needed to mark their ballot in favor of the program to continue.

The statewide numbers were not available.

Flue-cured tobacco is what sells overseas, primarily in a Japanese market, Williams said, but flue-curing is what makes it so expensive for Richmond County farmers.

Burley tobacco has been toyed with locally. It is cheaper and easier to grow, but the burley market is still small.

“It’s every bit as traumatic to tell a tobacco farmer to start a new crop,” Williams said about farmers turning to alternative crops like soybeans or peaches.

For a farmer to begin a new crop, it generally takes three years to turn around a profit after supplies are purchased and the plants are grown.

A press release from Tobacco Associates, Inc. says the reason for the referendum is that U.S. domestic consumption continues to decline so the future of tobacco production in the country will depend on growth opportunities in the export market.

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.