Mike Rice (left) and Calvin Bowling are Maryland tobacco farmers. Bowling, 63, has been doing it all his
life, but he won't be back next year.
"I made my mind up long ago" to take the buyout, he says. "It's been
downhill the last three or four years. You can't pay the bills." Bowling says he will continue farming grain
and raising cattle. Rice hasn't decided whether to take the buyout. "He's young and dumb,"
says Bowling of Rice's indecision. As for the prices this year, "None of it's bringing like I
thought it would," says Bowling. With all the rain Maryland got during
growing season, the tobacco is thin and light. Tobacco companies usually pay more for a thinner crop.
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