Did you notice THIS small news memo?

[observer]

Re: Wed's Simcoe Reformer, the 4TH LARGEST TOBACCO PRODUCTS COMPANY IN THE WORLD, Grand River Enterprises, has reached a multimillion dollar agreement with China Tobacco International Inc. And this was done before PM Harper's visit to China.

GRE bought the former Simcoe Leaf processing facility last July, saving the local plant from closure.

[growler]

yeah that's good news for a lot of people in this area !
about 12 million pounds of local tobacco being grown and processed, means jobs, crops, plus helps the whole area out !
just think how great this could have been if the former board had persued it as a market, if the gov't had not fought the areas farmers so vigorusly, and the cancer fund had spent more money on cures than spent on advertising everything bad about our farmers and the products !
even if they had done more research on the chemicals that they used to spray the crops, to see if they were the problem, instead of just using it as a cash cow.
it may have made more sense !
but now at least someone is trying to promote the industry that has been descimated !
i talked to a cancer specialist in toronto once (supposedly one of the top 3 in canada) and he said at any one time he has 30 patients under his care, adding up to several hundred per year,(some in remission, and some dead,but not all)and he says less than 1% have tobacco related cancer !
he also said he thinks smoking is a dirty harmful habit, but not as big of a killer as the cancer society paints it to be !

and thats the way i feel to.
but not the cancer crowd !

[Spidubic]

12 million pounds. And that is likely just to start and will only grow over time. Will tobacco return to what it once was in the area? Will farmers who got out do a facepalm? Will farmers who tore down kilns wish they hadn't?

[growler]

i was talking to one yesterday that regrets selling his bulk kilns, thinks he may have made a hasty decision !

[longtallsally]

It would be nice to see a return to successful tobacco crops, but I don't think that the farmers will ever return to their glory days, because they have lost control of the value of the crops. The principals of Grand River Enterprises will be the big winners--they will dictate to the growers what the price will be, and you can be sure the farmers will get only a fraction of what the manufacturer gets. Think cornflakes and corn farmers--corn farmers sure aren't as well off as Kelloggs. As an aside, it's kind of disturbing that once-illegitimate businesses can become legitimate so easily and be adored for it.

[observer]

As an aside, it's kind of disturbing that once illegitimate businesses can become legitimate so easily and be adored for it.

Gotta presume this reference isn't about Kelloggs!

[Slowfood]

Growler, your cancer post made me think.
Not to far from here, in Detroit, people living near a chrome plating plant-high cancer rate in the neighborhood.
Look at Port Colborne and all the extremely rare nasal, and sinus cancers,to go with lung and stomach cancers in people who worked in and lived near the nickel plant.
Niagara Falls New York-many many workers with cancers as a result of the American War effort.
Love Canal.
So many others leaking unimaginable compounds that end up in the drinking water of CANADIANS from St. Catherines to Oshawa.
Don't forget Port Hope and Sarnia.
It's even worse elsewhere in the world where regulations are more lax.
So what's my point? I think the majority of cancers are caused by industrial/military pollution of the countryside.
Back on topic-this is really good news for the area. Remember tobacco back in it's day had a lot of positive effects on all sorts of businesses. Hopefully we will see some of this back.

[growler]

well i agree that it will never recover to the level it was at !
but it is good to see someone is trying to have a formerly lost industry recover.
and i'm sure grand river will be on the higher income side of the recovery.
but as they are the driving force behind it they have earned that right !

and about corn flakes !
if you think about it farmers supplying corn to the big "K"and other mfg.s of the flakes do indeed benefit more than do other corn growers, and have for all the years since production began !!
and any that know what is required for the mfg.s to produce the flakes have always got a better return. plus as things have evolved they can now benifit even more as they can profit even more from supplying the usable corn !
if you know any constant suppliers of this corn you might ask them how they do this !
i do, but most don't !

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