April 10, 2005

LAWRENCEVILLE - Samuel Walker was not on the agenda for yesterday's meeting of black farmers learning about the pending tobacco buyout, but he felt his question was so important he took the podium to ask it.

Walker, a retired military man, wondered if all heirs of buyout-eligible property would have to sign off for payments to be received. He fretted that for long-held tracts that have been passed along without benefit of a will, that could mean hundreds of signatures would have to be gathered.

"I think our grandparents have earned this benefit, and we [should] receive it," he noted.

Walker, who lives in Yorktown, owns about 100 acres in Brunswick County that has been passed down through the generations, and with some of it, "that could potentially be a problem."

The signatures of all heirs are not needed, but it would take the opposition of only one to suspend payments, responded Peggy Lee, a representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Lee briefed the farmers on the buyout and the USDA's Farm Service Agency distributed information about the tobacco program.

Walker's question was among many raised yesterday during the meeting at Saint Paul's College that was the first of a series of gatherings across the tobacco-growing South sponsored by the National Black Farmers Association to help farmers take advantage of the pending buyout.

About 200 people turned out for the nearly two-hour meeting, and Walker's question, like most others, prompted much discussion.

Many of the farmers in attendance were like Roland Coleman of Halifax County.

Coleman once grew 20 acres of tobacco, but "they kept cutting and cutting [the quota] and now it's down to less than 10," he said. Standing in the lobby before the meeting started, Coleman hoped the event be helpful.

"I want to get what I can," he said. "I want to see what is going on, what can do me some good."

Others were like Brenda Scott Gordon, who looked after her mother, Mary Scott, until she died in 2003 and has inherited the quota holdings from her family's land in Greensville County.

"It has taken that long to really pull myself together and get involved," Gordon said. "My concern is: Did I miss something, and if so, how do I rectify that?"

The $10 billion federal Tobacco Transition Payment Program, widely known as the tobacco buyout, ends the decades-old tobacco price-support system and provides transition payments to eligible holders of tobacco quotas and tobacco producers in annual installments over 10 years. Sign-up for the program began March 14 and ends June 17.

John Boyd of Mecklenburg County, the founder of the
black farmers' association, said the meetings are necessary to help the farmers understand the process and avoid missing out on the benefits of the buyout.

"It's going to be tricky and we are going to have to work through the process," Boyd told the group. "You are going to have to spread the word and come to these sessions and get information for yourself. If you get information for yourself, you don't have to worry about friends and family telling you information that is not correct."

The farmers, some of whom will be receiving large sums of money, could also fall prey to swindlers, Boyd said.

Several representatives of Bank of America, which is a sponsor of the meetings, were on hand to encourage the farmers to seek financial advice.

"Some of you are looking at this as a retirement vehicle," said Mitch Holshouser, vice president of investments for Banc of America Investment Inc. "Some of you . . . are looking at getting in another area of farming."

Roland Coleman's younger brother, Phillip Coleman, said he was getting good information out of the gathering. Phillip Coleman said he will continue to farm but will put his buyout money toward his retirement.

"I will not take this money and stick it in the farm," he said.

Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 517-0997 or jruff@timesdispatch.com