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North Carolina tobacco land: what changed and where it goes now

The 2004 tobacco buyout ended the federal quota that tied tobacco to specific farms. North Carolina still grows tobacco, on far fewer and larger farms. Former tobacco ground now grows other crops, holds houses or solar arrays, or sits idle, and no public record counts which.

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Quick summary: This guide explains the federal tobacco quota, the 2004 buyout, and what the farm counts show since then. It is for owners of former tobacco land in North Carolina who are weighing a sale. The key takeaway: tobacco farming shrank and concentrated, but it did not end, and no record shows that former tobacco land sits idle.

What the tobacco buyout was

The tobacco buyout was the federal program that ended tobacco quotas and price supports and paid the people who held them. The Farm Service Agency’s program fact sheet says that, beginning with the 2005 crop, there were no planting restrictions, no marketing cards, and no price support loans. The law that ended the quota system was signed on October 22, 2004.

The Tobacco Transition Payment Program paid two groups from 2005 through 2014:

  • Quota holders. These were the landowners of farms where a tobacco quota was assigned. They received 7 dollars per pound of their basic quota at the 2002 level.
  • Producers. These were owners, operators, landlords, tenants, and sharecroppers who shared the risk of growing quota tobacco from 2002 to 2004. They received up to 3 dollars per pound.

The Economic Research Service’s post-buyout study reports that the payments totaled 9.6 billion dollars over 10 years. Assessments on tobacco product manufacturers and importers paid for them.

Why the quota mattered to landowners

The quota mattered to landowners because it was assigned to the farm. A farm with a quota carried the right to sell a set amount of tobacco at the supported price. Many owners did not grow tobacco themselves. They rented their quota to growers. The ERS study found that, for quota owners who did not farm, the main effect of the buyout was that buyout payments replaced their quota rent.

The buyout also removed the geographic limits on where tobacco could grow. Any farm could now plant it. A former quota farm competes on its soil, its size, and its location, like any other tract.

How many tobacco farms and acres remain

North Carolina still grows tobacco, on far fewer farms. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counts these farms that harvested tobacco and the acres they harvested:

Census year Farms harvesting tobacco Tobacco acres harvested
1997 12,586 317,994
2002 7,850 167,677
2007 2,622 170,083
2012 1,682 167,443
2017 1,294 167,781
2022 822 116,224

The table shows two separate changes. First, acreage fell by about half between 1997 and 2002, before the buyout. The ERS study reports that the national flue-cured quota fell 47 percent between 1996 and 2004 as domestic and export demand weakened. Second, acreage held near 167,000 acres from 2002 to 2017, through the buyout, while the number of farms kept falling. Fewer growers farmed more tobacco each. ERS found that average flue-cured acreage per farm rose from 32 to 84 acres between 2004 and 2007.

Tobacco remains a major crop. The 2025 state agriculture overview reports 121,000 acres harvested and a production value of about 546 million dollars. In that overview’s crop table, only corn and soybeans show a higher value.

Where former tobacco land went

No public record tracks what happened to each former tobacco acre. The Census of Agriculture counts crops by year. It does not follow a field from one use to the next. The answer comes in parts.

  • Other crops. In the same census table, soybean acres rose from 1,279,725 in 1997 to 1,707,530 in 2022. Sweet potato acres tripled, from 29,052 to 87,126. The table does not show whether those crops went onto former tobacco fields.
  • Houses. American Farmland Trust’s model estimates that development converted or compromised 732,000 acres of North Carolina agricultural land from 2001 to 2016. It attributes roughly 78 percent of that land to low-density residential use.
  • Solar. A federal study of rural solar and wind sites found that North Carolina had a large share of the country’s solar installations from 2009 to 2020. Nationally, 43 percent of the solar farms in that study sat on cropland before construction.
  • Timber and idle ground. A field can also go to pine or stay idle. No public record measures how much former tobacco land went either way.

What is taking North Carolina farmland? compares these uses across all farmland, not tobacco land alone.

The short version: The buyout ended the quota, not tobacco farming. North Carolina harvested 121,000 acres of tobacco in 2025 on far fewer farms than in 1997. Former tobacco land is not one category, and no record shows it standing empty.

What a former tobacco farm is worth now

A former tobacco farm is worth what a buyer pays for its present uses, not its quota history. The census table estimates the average market value of North Carolina farmland and buildings at 5,482 dollars per acre in 2022. The 1997 figure was 2,127 dollars. That is an average across all farms. It says nothing about one tract. Road frontage, utilities, soils, and zoning set the price for a specific parcel. How much is an acre of land? explains those factors.

What to check before you sell former tobacco land

Former tobacco land needs the same checks as any farm tract. Selling farm or timber land for development covers present-use value, timber, and leases. Add these checks for a farm with a long family history:

  1. Every owner of record. Quota-era farms often passed through several generations. Confirm who holds title. See What is heirs property?
  2. Old tanks and chemical storage. Farm fuel tanks and chemical storage can raise questions in an environmental review. See Phase 1 environmental site assessment: what it is and when you need one.
  3. Recorded restrictions. A conservation easement or another recorded limit binds the next owner. A title search finds it.
  4. Usable ground. Floodplain, wetlands, and stream buffers come off the gross acreage. A buyer prices what remains.

Take action: If you own former tobacco land, learn what the public record says about it before a buyer does. Start with Is your land a data-center site?

What the public record shows

The public record shows how many farms harvested tobacco, how many acres they harvested, and what the buyout paid. It does not show what grows on a given former tobacco field today, or whether the owner would sell. County tax records, aerial images, and the owner answer those questions. The county tax office confirms present-use enrollment. A real estate attorney confirms title. A licensed North Carolina real estate brokerage handles a sale. For how tobacco land figures in the debate over data centers, see Are data centers bad? The objections, checked against the record.

Key recap

  • The 2004 buyout ended federal tobacco quotas and price supports. It paid quota holders and producers from 2005 through 2014.
  • Farms harvesting tobacco fell from 12,586 in 1997 to 822 in 2022. Acreage fell by about half before the buyout, then held near 167,000 acres until 2017.
  • North Carolina harvested 121,000 acres of tobacco in 2025.
  • No public record tracks where each former tobacco acre went, and no record counts idle tobacco land.
  • Before a sale, confirm title, present-use enrollment, environmental history, and recorded restrictions.

Questions

Is tobacco still grown in North Carolina?

Yes. North Carolina harvested 121,000 acres of tobacco in 2025, according to the federal agriculture overview. Far fewer farms grow it than before the buyout, and each one grows more.

What was the tobacco buyout?

It was the federal program that ended tobacco quotas and price supports after the 2004 reform law. It paid quota holders and producers in annual payments from 2005 through 2014, funded by assessments on tobacco product makers and importers.

Did buyout payments go to landowners?

Yes, in part. Quota holders were the landowners of farms with an assigned quota, and they received 7 dollars per pound of basic quota. Producers who grew quota tobacco received up to 3 dollars per pound.

Is former tobacco land a good data-center site?

Some large tracts can be, but the crop history does not decide it. Power, access, usable acreage, water, and zoning decide it. The serving utility and the county confirm those facts.

References

Primary sources cited on this page, in APA style.

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