Tobacco farmers in Virginia stand to receive half of the $4 billion the state will receive from the nationwide settlement last year with cigarette manufacturers. Maryland leaf growers won't be nearly as fortunate.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening is opposed to a plan -- which was drafted in part by the state Agriculture Department -- that would provide 4 percent of Maryland's $4.2 billion share of the settlement to assist tobacco growers and help stabilize the agriculture economy of Southern Maryland, state Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Virts said yesterday.
Virts told a meeting of the Maryland Agricultural Commission "that the administration doesn't want to do anything to encourage the continued production of tobacco in the state."
The plan, also drafted by the Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland, the Maryland Farm Bureau and tobacco growers, seeks to use $270 million of the settlement to assist farmers and help stabilize agriculture in the region.
"Tobacco, which has been grown in the state for more than 350 years, is still a major crop in St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles, Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties," said Gary V. Hodge, an adviser to the Southern Maryland Tobacco Board and former executive director of the Tri-County Council.
"It is grown on only 5 percent of the land in the five counties, but it accounts for two-thirds of the farm value of all commodities grown in the region," he added.
When adjusted for inflation, Hodge said, just 2 percent, or $138 million, of the settlement would go directly to farmers and tobacco warehouses under the plan presented to the General Assembly.
The plan has six elements:
Enhance agricultural land preservation, $100 million.
Implementation of economic development strategies to stabilize the region's agriculture economy, $25 million.
Compensate farmers and tobacco warehouse operators for economic losses from reduced tobacco consumption, $58.4 million.
A program to help farmers change to another crop, $49.5 million.
A buyout of tobacco farmers, $30 million.
Sponsor applied agricultural research for alternative uses of tobacco, $7 million.
Hodge said that, in addition to providing stability for the region's agriculture economy, the plan would help the governor's Smart Growth program for preserving agricultural land in an area of the state experiencing rapid residential and commercial development.
Allocation 'premature'
In a letter to Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman, chairwoman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, Frederick W. Puddester, secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, said that while the tobacco bill may have some merit, the governor thinks "that it is premature to allocate funds in this manner."
Puddester noted that it has not yet been determined if the federal government will recoup a portion of Maryland's tobacco settlement.
The Virginia legislature approved a bill last month calling for payment of 50 percent of the state's settlement to farmers without a dissenting vote. Gov. James S. Gilmore III is expected to sign the legislation.
Emily Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Farm Bureau, was critical of Glendening's position.
"Tobacco has been the heart of Southern Maryland's agriculture economy since the arrival of the first settlers," she said. "You can't pull the heart out and expect the agricultural economy to survive."
Virts also told the committee that the state's tobacco growers are to receive $31.5 million, over 12 years, from a separate agreement with the tobacco companies.
He said that would amount to about 22 cents a pound, but cautioned that buyers for the tobacco companies might get some of the money back by lowering their prices at auction.
Pub Date: 3/18/99