By Elliott Minor
The Associated Press

HAHIRA, Ga. - Fred Wetherington knows tobacco prices are stagnant and demand continues to go down, but he isn't about to give up on the crop after spending millions for equipment and curing technology.

Like many farmers, the south Georgia grower thinks growing the golden leaf can still be profitable, although probably not as much as it once was.

"I think there's still going to be an opportunity for some of us to make a living in tobacco for a long time to come," Wetherington said. "But there will be fewer of us."

Tobacco farming, a mainstay of Southern agriculture for nearly a century, has been hurt by increased foreign competition, higher cigarette prices and declines in smoking. Since 1997, the federal government has cut the amount farmers can grow by more than 40 percent, leaving many with equipment they no longer need but still have to pay for.

Yet, experts say tobacco remains one of the most reliable cash crops in the flue-cured belt that stretches from northern Florida to Virginia.

With millions of dollars invested in harvesting equipment, curing barns and hydroponics greenhouses for growing the plants, Wetherington, a third-generation tobacco farmer, is firmly committed to the crop. At 35, he is one of Georgia's youngest and largest tobacco producers with 550 acres near the south-central Georgia town of Hahira.

During a recent tour of a field, Wetherington noticed the lower leaves were beginning to yellow, a sign for him to prepare for harvesting.

"Overall, we've got a really good crop," he said. "You see how sticky these leaves are. That's good for us. That's a sign of a good, heavy crop."

Many growers believe the commodity program that has regulated tobacco since the 1930s is outdated. Tobacco-state lawmakers have responded by pushing for a buyout of farmers' government-issued tobacco allotments in favor of a freer market, arguing that such a system would lead to more competitively priced American tobacco. Some lawmakers want to fund the buyout through a user fee on tobacco products, reducing the cost to taxpayers.

Congress ended the Depression-era peanut program last year by approving a $1.3 billion buyout of quota holders and lawmakers have continued tobacco buyout talks this year.

Laura McMillan, wife of a Berrien County tobacco farmer, said her family probably would drop tobacco if a buyout makes it worthwhile.

She and her husband, Steve, along with his brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Margaret McMillan, run Southern Grace Farms near Enigma.

"If we felt it was a fair payment ... I feel like we would take our money, pay off our debts and sell our equipment," she said.

They borrowed to expand production to about 100 acres by purchasing the allotments of others, she said. Now they can grow only 40 acres because of the production cuts, but they still have to pay off creditors who financed the expansion, she said.

The McMillans have added strawberries and blueberries as alternative crops and they have opened a country store and launched a Web site to sell their farm products.

"The future of tobacco doesn't make me want to expand," she said. While growers mull over their future, university researchers remain busy exploring tobacco's potential in pharmaceuticals and as a source of protein.

Forty scientists at North Carolina State University devote some of their time to tobacco, including a $17 million genomics study funded by Philip Morris USA. University of Georgia researchers are focusing on ways to improve varieties and minimize diseases.

J. Michael Moore, a University of Georgia's authority on tobacco growing, predicts demand for U.S.- and Georgia-grown tobacco will continue because "we have historically produced the highest quality tobacco in the world and we continue to have demand."