Podcast Script

Nicole Worth
Topic: Farmers face a heavy moral struggle about growing tobacco

Introduction
 Before my parents bought the land that they’ve now lived on for 13 years, wandering
across it would take you through rows and rows of tobacco plants, big, green leaves
flapping gently in the wind. The lady who’d owned the land was getting old, and no
longer wanted to farm it. But for farmers currently growing the crop that has sustained
North Carolina for decades, there’s a mental challenge that comes along with it.
 Farmers in North Carolina face an ethical dilemma with growing tobacco because it
causes terrible health issues, yet for many it is the source of their livelihood.
Main Section
 For many years, this dilemma wasn’t even a dilemma until the adverse side effects of
smoking began to come under scrutiny. But as more and more evidence comes to light, it
becomes harder and harder to deny that smoking, and as an extension tobacco, has
serious health consequences. Just how does a farmer come to terms with it? For a
declining older generation of farmers, they simply deny that smoking is bad for you. But
for younger generations, the evidence is overwhelming. Many farmers choose to ignore
the problem, to willingly suspend disbelief in the harmfulness of tobacco. After all, how
does one reconcile that the crop that supports their families will go on to potentially kill?
And it’s hard to criticize something so beneficial to the state’s growth. “There is no house
in North Carolina that does not have some tobacco money in it”, says one grower.
(Benson, 506) Tobacco has been a major staple of North Carolina’s economy since the
time of the colonies and the image of the farmer out working in his field is a part of the
mind of this southern state, as well as it’s history. (Clip 1 – history of America) (“Bright
Leaves”) And up until fairly recently, tobacco farming been a stable source of income for
generations. “Tobacco supports my family and pays the bills…I provide for my family”,
says another grower. (Benson, 509) Families pass land and tradition from father to son,
and served as a way to bring families together. During the harvest it was all hands on
deck, and entire extended families would work as a team to take care of the fields. (Clip 2
– Way of life)(“Bright Leaves”) People have invested their entire lives into the farm, both
economically and time-wise. This means that for many, even if they wanted to change it
isn’t feasible. Sure, there are other crops that are possible to grow, but they become
expensive and difficult. Expensive, because of the cost to purchase new equipment and
set-ups and also the potential dip in net profits compared to tobacco, and difficult because
of all the new knowledge and skills that many crops require to grow successfully. These
obstacles greatly affect a farmer’s willingness to change, to overcome the burden that the
South has of allowing history and tradition to hinder modernization. Another way to look
 at things is to consider that its an individual’s choice to smoke, and the farmer has no
consequence on that decision. Cynthia Kettle, the wife of a tobacco grower, says (insert
quote here)(Benson, 507). People who choose to smoke do so of their own volition, with
many already knowing the potential costs of doing so. One grower even says this in
response to being asked how she feels about growing tobacco after it killed her mother.
(Clip 3 – nothing to do with) (“Bright Leaves”)
Conclusion
 No matter how farmers choose to justify it, they must have some kind of reasoning for
growing such a societally hated crop. In today’s North Carolina, the small tobacco farms
that used to dot the landscape are disappearing, thanks to increased—and cheaper—
production in other parts of the world, as well as increased transitions to other crops. But
for those who cling to tradition, to the crop that has supported them for generations, the
internal struggle with tobacco remains.
TIME: 5 minutes, 10 seconds
Sources
Primary
Otto, Mary. “Owners Of Tobacco Land -- Churches Break Silence About Conflicts Of Profit
And Health.” The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 3 Nov. 1996,
archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19961103&slug=2357701.
Tobacco Study Committee. North Carolina Council of Churches, 1984,
www.ncchurches.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Moral-Dimensions-of-Tobacco_1984.pdf.
“CAROLINA CHURCHES DEBATE TOBACCO GROWING.” The New York Times, 4 Dec.
1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/04/us/carolina-churches-debate-tobacco-growing.html.
Pipkin, Pringle. “THOU SHALT NOT SMOKE? RELIGION CONFRONTS AN ETHICAL
DILEMMA IN TOBACCO COUNTRY.” News and Record, 13 Oct. 1990,
https://www.greensboro.com/thou-shalt-not-smoke-religion-confronts-an-ethical-dilemma-in/
article_d7d5ed55-9674-58e9-9882-d8d08ede16c0.html.
https://storycorps.org/stories/mark-sullivan/ - StoryCorps telling by a guy who worked on
tobacco farms as a teenager
https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53395/Tobacco-Money-
Feeds-My-Family – Documentary about decline of tobacco farmers (primary source because of
narrator)
“Bright Leaves.” Films Media Group, 2005, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?
wID=238336&xtid=141807. Accessed 24 Apr. 2020.
Secondary
Lang, Joshua Glen, "Tough tobacco transitions" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
15015. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15015
Benson, Peter. “Tobacco Talk: Reflections on Corporate Power and the Legal Framing of
Consumption.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 4, 2010, pp. 500–521., doi:
10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01120.x.