Philip Morris to stop buying tobacco from Missouri farmers
The major buyer for Missouri-grown tobacco is pulling out of the state and has angered area farmers with its reaSons.
A Philip Morris USA mobile buying truck begins a seven-day stop in Weston on Monday to weigh, grade and purchase tobacco grown under contract in Platte, Clay and Buchanan counties, as well as some central Missouri counties. But the company says it’s won’t buy Missouri tobacco next year and it’s likely the end of the cigarette maker’s longtime market presence in Weston. “We’re very disappointed that Philip Morris has taken this position,” said Donald Wilson, who farms and raises tobacco near Weston. “They called their program a partnership with farmers. When one partner drops out, you’re disappointed.” Farmers also don’t like the reaSons given, Wilson said. Tobacco growers received a letter last month from Philip Morris saying the company would no longer purchase Missouri tobacco because it didn’t meet quality, flavor and blending characteristics, according to the letter signed by Craig E. Stariha, senior director for domestic leaf procurement for Philip Morris. “Missouri tobacco generally does not meet a number of subjective measures that are important to producing our cigarette blends,” Stariha said. But Wilson and other area farmers don’t think there’s anything wrong with the quality of their tobacco, and they’re miffed that Philip Morris says there is. The Burley Growers Cooperative Association in Lexington, Ky., buys Missouri tobacco. And Philip Morris has been buying and using it since 1956. “I suspect it’s an economic thing, that they can get it cheaper somewhere else,” Wilson said. Tobacco growing has long been a source of pride in Platte County. The burley leaf variety replaced hemp as a key crop in the 1800s. Missouri River steamboats and railroads provided an affordable transport method to ship the crop to companies in the East. Then when a federal price support system to help growers was implemented during the Great Depression, Weston survived for decades as the only active tobacco market west of the Mississippi River. The traditional post-Thanksgiving startup of the tobacco auctions put extra money in farmers’ pockets. Downtown Weston was festive with special chili feeds and events when the market opened. Growers and curious onlookers came to town to check on the prices buyers were paying. Some simply wanted to watch the auctioneer and buyers swiftly move past the pallets of strong-smelling burley leaf that was air-dried and hand-stripped from stalks in area barns. Then 10 years ago, the tobacco warehouse and market system ended at the request of major tobacco companies and some growers. Wilson said Missouri growers backed Philip Morris’ efforts to end that system. Instead, farmers began growing tobacco under contracts that pre-determined prices and poundage. The old warehouses in Weston became shipping stations for loading contract tobacco onto semi-trailer trucks bound for Kentucky. The New Deal Tobacco Warehouse in Weston has handled primarily Philip Morris contract tobacco, while Weston Burley Tobacco Warehouse No. 1 in downtown Weston processed some non-contract tobacco shipped to independent buyers in the East. In 2007, New Deal shipped 3.5 million pounds, said Louis Smither, a co-owner for the warehouse. This year, Philip Morris contracted for 40 percent less, he said. Families with small farms once worked together on the hand labor of planting, cutting, hauling and hanging tobacco in barns to cure. Burley sales brought Christmas money. But those small producers have dropped out, Wilson said. “For 18 years, I’ve grown tobacco plants to sell to others for them to set out,” he said. “I used to have 40 to 50 customers each year. Now I have less than 10.” The remaining growers are planting large acreages and hiring crews of immigrant laborers to harvest the burley. That’s true nationally, as well. But a downturn in smoking in the United States, due to health concerns and public smoking bans like the one recently defeated in Parkville, has cut demand for tobacco products at a time when the big farm operations are producing large amounts of tobacco, Smither said. Wilson said producers and warehouse operators believe they’ll find markets to ship some of their tobacco to in the coming years. But the profitability and amount of burley grown locally will likely drop further. “I’m sure we’ll still grow some,” he said. “I’m just not sure how much.”