Why are Canadian tobacco farmers in crisis?
Tobacco farmers are victims of conflicting government policies on tobacco and a gap in tobacco control policy that has led them into debt and economic devastation. Since 2002, tobacco farmers and their families have been in a state of turmoil, brought on by dramatically declining crop sizes, costly mandatory infrastructure investments, rising contraband and an increase in cheaper imported tobacco. Despite a still existing and legal market, they find themselves unable to meet their debt obligations and are at great risk of losing their farms and their homes. At an average age of 58, with average debt loads of $400,000, the significant devaluation of tobacco farming assets, and little or no viable employment opportunity elsewhere, many Canadian tobacco farmers risk losing everything they and their families have honestly invested in and worked for over four or five generations. 2.
