Test for All--Tobacco Program-Less

Here's an MSNBC article on tobacco farming now the government program has ended. Tobacco farmers are doing well. I've seen this mentioned before, last year, I think. An excerpt and some observations:

On the ideas of the anti-tobacco people before the program was killed:

“The hope would be that by eliminating the quotas there would be fewer farmers then engaged in growing this crop,” Mulvey said.

In fact, there are fewer farmers since the end of the program. But there is more tobacco being grown. And companies are investing in growers like Rod Keugel to a degree not seen in the past. PhilipMorris USA picked up the tab for some of his equipment and a tobacco barn. Critics say the manufacturers value these relationships even more for the political benefits than the tobacco."

I think the experience confirms the idea the program worked--that is, it kept people farming tobacco who wouldn't be farming tobacco in the absence of the program. (lWhether that's good or bad is another question.)

The program also kept new entrants out of the industry. That's an unanticipated consequence of other farm programs--particularly those which raise the price of farm land, thereby making it more difficult for newcomers to enter.

From the excerpt there's a hint of a move towards contract farming, moving away from the old auction barn ("sold Phillip Morris")?