An Investigation of Post-Buyout Burley Tobacco Production and Trends in the Traditional Burley Regions of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia

The 2004 Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, commonly referred to as the Tobacco Buyout Program, ended the federal tobacco program. This act ended price supports and quotas, and also ended reporting requirements. The tobacco industry is now faced with new challenges in tobacco production as they have scant information to base production decisions on. The 2006 Burley Tobacco Survey provides an initial outlook of future production, challenges, trends and expectations. The results from the survey were used to analyze future production decisions. An ordered logit model reveals that producers who received prices of $1.65/lb or more, have farms in excess of 250 acres, received less than 10 percent of total gross farm receipts from tobacco, are 34 years old or younger, or have a graduate or professional degree are more likely to continue burley tobacco production in 2007. Farmers with gross agricultural receipts of $9,999 or less, those who make higher amounts in terms of net household income, and those producers who are from North Carolina are less likely to continue production in 2007