New book delves into culture, economy of tobacco production in North Carolina

There's plenty of research on the health effects of tobacco use, but not much on the cultural and economic impacts of tobacco production in the U.S., especially after the 2004 repeal of federal quotas and price supports for the crop.  Peter Benson, a sociocultural anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, has remedied that with his new book Tobacco Capitalism, based on his research in North Carolina. He examines the "impact of the transformation of the tobacco industry on farmers, workers and the American public," according to a WU press release. The book focuses on public-health threats, impacts of foreign production and immigration issues, as well as new public-relations strategies.

Benson said he found out that pressures on the industry are complex. Farms have been family-owned for generations, and farmers "take great pride in their family's history and role" in production, he said. Companies are increasingly buying tobacco overseas because it's cheaper, reducing U.S. production and the number of tobacco farmers. With the end of quotas and price supports, they raise more tobacco per farm, but manufacturers pay lower prices, depressed by overseas production.

Tobacco is "widely seen as a dangerous product," leaving farmers to "face public derision," Benson says in the news release. Farmers are seeing "their livelihood and family heritage, their identity, as under attack from many sides." That's been true for decades, "but with many fewer tobacco farmers, they may feel more out of the mainstream than ever," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog.

Public health risks of tobacco aren't only connected to smoking. A mostly migrant workforce, consisting of Mexicans and Central Americans, lives in "chronic vulnerability," Benson said. Most are undocumented and live in "labor camps" in dangerous conditions. They don't have access to health care, legal services or benefits, and their presence in small communities can lead to cultural tension.  (Read more)