DE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HURSDAY APRIL 26, 2007
NEWS
AGRICULTURE
7A
Tobacco farmers giving up tradition Growing 'golden leaf' not paying off
BY MARGARET LILLARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Troxler family grew tobacco for generations in North Carolina. A few years ago, with federal price supports about to vanish and time to tend the labor-intensive crop becoming scarce, Steve Troxler decided to stop.
That decision by Troxler, made just after his election as North Carolina's agriculture commissioner, encapsulates the eroding power of the signature crop of a state where the names of cities, universities and even sports teams reflect the legacy
of the "golden leaf."
Decreased domestic demand, fewer farmers, an influx of newcomers and continuing alarms over the dangers of smoking have even opened the door for lawmakers to consider what once seemed unthinkable here;
a broad ban on indoor smoking across North Carolina.
"it's done so much good over the years, it's hard for tobacco farmers
co industry. It's completely for our industry and what we think is fair.
"I think it's very historic, when you consider that we were the tobacco state and still remain THE tobacco state in the nation." Troxler said. "I think about all the things the crop of tobacco has done — it's built the schools, the universities, the list goes on and on. And now we're to the point we want to ban smoking."
"I think it's very historic, when you consider that we were the tobacco state and still remain THE tobacco state in the nation."
Though employment has dropped over the past decade, nearly 1,800 people still worked in tobacco farming and more than 11,500 had tobacco manufacturing jobs in 2005, according to data compiled by Duke University.
STEVE TROXLER North Carolina agriculture commissioner
North Carolina is the nation's top tobacco state, producing 43.1 percent of the domestic crop in 2005
— the first year without the price stabilizing quota system created by the federal government in the 1930s. Two of the three largest U.S. cigarette makers are still based in the state.
"It's still a legal commodity. It's still something this state's history and economy were built on," said Keith Parrish, executive director of the National Tobacco Growers Association.
Still, the same argument against banning public smoking heard around the country is being used here. Opponents don't talk about tobacco's legacy or the money and jobs it brings to the state, but instead cite their belief that business owners should be able to control the activity allowed on their property.
like myself to see this discrimination, given all the tax dollars we've contributed to the state's coffers," he said.
And decreasing demand means tobacco's contribution to North Carolina's economy has been gradually dropping for
"We believe it should be a matter of choice between the consumer and the operator," said Paul Stone, head of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, one of the ban's chief opponents. "Our position has nothing to do with the tobac-
more than a quarter-century, said Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University.
"The incidence of smoking in the United States — if you look at smokers as a percentage of the population — has been going down since the '60s" he said. "As tobacco has waned in its influence, those who are nonsmokers have been able to make their voices heard more."
The most dramatic change for the industry was the quota buyout approved in 2004, in which the federal government paid farmers for their "quota" — the amount of tobacco they were allowed to grow under the Depression-era price support program — and left the crop's fate to the free market. Rather than make changes needed to compete in a free market, many farmers simply stopped planting tobacco. Acres harvested dropped from 156,000 in 2004 to 126,000 in 2005. While the acreage has rebounded — up to 159,000 harvested in 2006 and about the same projected this year, that land is held by fewer farmers, Troxler said.
At the Statehouse, only four lawmakers include "farmer" among their occupations. Parrish believes that has contributed to moves against tobacco.
BY DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rosie O'Donnell is photographed through a closed window as she is driven from the ABC television studios after the taping of "The View," on Wednesday in New York. O'Donnell announced at the show's start that she would be leaving, saying in a statement, "my needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me. This has been an amazing experience," she said, and "one I wouldn't have traded for the world."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Her tenure short but hardly sweet, Rosie O'Donnell said Wednesday she will leave "The View" in June after less than a year of feuds, headlines and higher ratings for ABC.
O'Donnell says goodbye to 'The View'
Walters was frequently left to clean up the damage after O'Donnell.
"We have had, to say the least, an interesting year," Walters said. But she said O'Donnell's exit is "not my doing or my choice."
- Saying she was "very fond" of Murdoch, Walters pointed out that "Rosie's view is not always mine."
DAYTIME TELEVISION
The opinionated host said she and ABC couldn't agree on a new contract — she wanted one more year. ABC wanted to lock her up for three. So she decided to leave, although she will appear occasionally next season for things like a planned one-hour special on autism.
In the Trump imbroglio, O'Donnell was reportedly mad that Walters did not come more swiftly to her defense, while Trump said Walters told him she didn't want O'Donnell on the show — a claim Walters denied.
Trump quickly went on Fox
O'Donnell made more than $3 million for her season on "The View." ABC was willing to spend more to keep her, but wanted a three-year deal so it didn't have to worry about O'Donnell as a potential competitor.
O'Donnell has helped increase the chat show's audience by about a half-million a day. But her outspokenness has caused continual controversy, including a nasty name-calling feud with Donald Trump that placed "The View" creator Barbara Walters squarely in the middle.
"It it didn't work," she said on the show Wednesday, "and that's show biz. But it's not sad because I loved it here and I love you guys and I'm not going away."
ROSIE O'DONNELL Co-host of "The View"
Despite controversy or maybe because of it
war, Hurricane Katrina, illegal wetting didnt bother her, "but put up a barricade near Barbara Walters' house and there's hell to pay!"
percent over the same period last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"Barbara's the happiest person in the world that Rosie's been fired." "Trump said."
Bill Carroll, an expert in the syndication market for Katz Television, said he's inclined to believe the explanation that it was a contract dispute that ended O'Donnell's stay. If ABC was fearful of what she would say, O'Donnell wouldn't be kept on the air until June, he said.
O'Donnell was good business for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co. Through mid-April, "The View" has averaged 3.5 million viewers since O'Donnell joined, up 17
Her departure is a real challenge for "The View." O'Donnell was clearly the show's centerpiece, and she had replaced Meredith Vieira, who was effectively the moderator.
"It just didn't work and that's show biz. But it's not sad because I loved it here and I love you guys and I'm not going away."
ABC needs someone well-known to step in, Carroll said. "It would be difficult, in my judgment, to try to replace Rosie," he said. "The best course of action would be to find someone who would be similar to what Meredith was."
he would know what had happened in contract talks between O'Donnell and ABC.
Cindi Berger, spokeswoman for both O'Donnell and Walters, denied Trump's claim, wondering how
show when O'Donnell teased her for complaining about blocked sidewalks near her home because of a visit by President Bush. The
News Channel Wednesday to claim that O'Donnell was fired by ABC because of remarks made at the Women in Communications luncheon.
Illustrating their dynamic, Walters blanched on Wednesday's