Tough tobacco

For all the posturing that Hagan and Burr did about negative impacts of tobacco legislation on family farms, it appears to have been mostly uninformed political bluster. Maybe the Fayetteville Observer should have written this story before the debate so our Senators might have known what the heck they were talking about.

North Carolina farmers grew $600 million worth of tobacco last year on 174,000 acres of farmland.

Brown said most of the state's tobacco farms are large, diverse operations along the Interstate 95 corridor that would be unlikely to go out of business if tobacco demand dropped. Another crop would take its place.

All of the state's tobacco won't be affected, Brown said. Close to 60 percent of the state's crop is exported and is outside the new law's purview.