For the past several years, federal subsidies have been available to tobacco farmers in Maryland to help compensate for the national attack on their crop. Unlike Maryland's buyout program, the federal subsidy pays growers while they continue growing the crop. The Mennonite farmer said some of his people took it. The three farmers said they are not yet worried about tobacco disappearing. Still they're planning for the worst.
Alternative crops are an option, though none seem as lucrative as tobacco.
Some companies have had discussions with individual farmers about entering into a contract arrangement if the auction market in Southern Maryland dries up. In North Carolina and Virginia, two states that produce most of the country's tobacco, the contract system has become increasingly popular, Norris said. But when the auction system disappears, and companies no longer have to compete with that system, the conventional wisdom is that those deals will not be as good for the farmers, he said. The foreseeable death of tobacco is not just about the end to an economically viable crop for these communities. It is also about the death of tradition.