US tobacco farmers plead for help

02 September 1997

US tobacco farmers plead for help

US tobacco farmers are pleading for guarantees of help from the government
and the tobacco industry.

Approval of a multibillion-dollar compensation agreement is awaited to pay
for smoking-related illnesses. The farmers harvest has been adversely affected
by the weather and prices are down.

Price supports are likely to continue but Dan Glickman, the US agriculture
secretary, has refused to endorse farmers demands for cash buyouts and other
economic help.