Tobacco farms and farmers still in the business are planting more tobacco per farm, according to the latest census of agriculture from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the News & Observer in Raleigh.
The changes are largely the result of the end of a Great Depression-era quota and price support system 10 years ago that drove consolidation of the tobacco-growing business.
The 2012 census, the latest of a report that comes out every five years, shows 1,682 tobacco farms in North Carolina, down from nearly 8,000 farms before the quota program was ended. And while the overall amount of land planted in tobacco in the state has stabilized in recent years, at 167,443 in 2012, the size of tobacco farms has more than quadrupled in a decade, to an average of 100 acres.
The quota system kept tobacco prices high by allotting a limited amount of acreage that could be planted each year. It helped make tobacco a lucrative crop grown on a small scale. In 1982, when nearly 29,500 farmers were growing tobacco in North Carolina, the average size of a tobacco farm was just 11 acres.
1. Soybeans: 156,806,805 acres on 7,021 farms
2. Corn for grain and silage: 849,670 acres on 5,968 farms
3. Wheat: 753,713 acres on 4,156 farms
4. Forage: 643,186 acres on 19,562 farms
5. Cotton: 580,801 acres on 1,432 farms
6. Tobacco: 167,443 acres on 1,682 farms
7. Vegetables: 122,516 acres on 3,283 farms
8. Peanuts: 105,739 acres on 636 farms
9. Barley: 16,695 acres on 250 farms
10. Oats: 13,390 acres on 443 farms
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture 2012 census of agriculture
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