Florida is the nation's seventh-largest tobacco producer, with tobacco farms in 20 counties. The Legislature is considering ways to help shield the companies from huge lawsuit damages. The state wants the companies to stay afloat so that billions of dollars promised to the state in a settlement with the tobacco industry keep flowing into state coffers. Into this political hall of mirrors walk Florida's tobacco farmers. I'm naive about politics.
Nobody wants to use the word tobacco.
It's worse than some of the most vulgar words in the English language now. The farmers are in a bind because the federal government controls how much tobacco they can grow and sell. Each year, the government sets quotas, based on the amount of tobacco that cigarette companies predict they will need in a year. For North Florida families with mortgaged barns and equipment, bankruptcy looms large. The relief package includes a low-interest loan program to help farmers pay down their debts, and technical advice to help farmers and tobacco warehouse marketers switch to other crops.