WASHINGTON, DC – With a deadline fast approaching for farmers to participate in the $10 billion federal tobacco transition program, also known as the tobacco buyout, the National Black Farmers Association today announced a major six-state push to educate black farmers about the process and encourage participation. The deadline for quota-holding farmers to sign-up is June 17, 2005.

“NBFA is leading a national effort to inform black farmers of the buyout process,” said farmer and NBFA president and founder John W. Boyd, Jr.. “We have determined that more than 12,000 black farmers are likely eligible for millions of dollars in quota buyout funds. We are doing our best to advise these farmers of their options during the FSA process and on how to successfully transition to other crops.” 

From a mailer full of materials announcing options to the series of public meetings in rural communities across the country, NBFA's president John Boyd and others will be working day and night to ensure black farmers have the ability to participate in the process. Information will be available through a new section on the organization’s website, www.blackfarmers.org. 

NBFA announced it will host six public meetings for black farmers in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky in April and May. The dates and locations of meetings is attached below. 

The USDA Farm Service Agency will be sending representatives to these meetings to make presentations and distribute relevant materials about the tobacco transition payment program. The FSA is in the middle of its effort to inform tens of thousands of tobacco farmers across the nation of the multibillion-dollar tobacco buyout program.

Two cautionary notes: Many black farmers may actually lose money if not adequately informed of the process – some buyout funds may possibly be diverted to pay for outstanding farm debts. NBFA is also told that predatory lenders and other predatory groups are already trying to scam farmers who are not fully informed about the tobacco buyout process. That is part of why NBFA will undertake a rapid national effort to reach its members and other black farmers and farm owners who hold tobacco quotas.