In turn, tobacco keeps small farms in business. Without tobacco to prop up small farms, the pace at which they slide into subdivisions or other development probably would quicken, said Hal Hamilton, director of the Center for Sustainable Systems in Berea. Small farmers often are the focus during discussions about protecting growers from the effects of the tobacco settlement. But small farmers aren't as plentiful as they used to be. Henton, with the Farm Service Agency, said there has been some consolidation of tobacco production in Kentucky, with fewer growers but larger average-size crops.
Farmers see that trend firsthand.
Tobacco is going the direction that hog and chicken operations have taken, said Gary Gilbert, a Boyle County farmer. He used to grow tobacco but now leases his quota to concentrate on raising Holstein dairy heifers. Mike Asberry stood in his Lancaster tobacco barn. In 1992, he grew 25 times as many acres of tobacco as he did this year. Copyright 1997 Lexington Herald-Leader.