The Burley Tobacco Co-op dissolved most of its assets to members of the Co-op that had been growing Burley Tobacco the previous five years before the settlement. To be a member you needed to have grown tobacco or had tobacco grown on your land the previous five years. The BTGCA had served farmers in Wayne County and Kentucky. Which provided price stability of burley tobacco for more than 60 years. Direct contracting with the Tobacco Company's caused most of the services to no longer be needed.

Wayne County had approximately 30 growers that had grown tobacco the previous five years before the settlement, most of those growers grew less than five acres. I along with other Extension personnel, and Farm Service Agency personnel helped inform growers of getting the information they needed to qualify for being a member of the Burley Tobacco Co-op. I personally contacted most of the growers in Wayne County to make sure they got their FSA Form 578 to the BTGCA.

Farm Service Agency's Form 578 had to be sent to the Burley Tobacco Co-op to prove their membership and that they had grown tobacco the previous five years. Wayne County Tobacco Growers weren't involved in the dissolvement of the BTGCA, but needed the correct information on getting their part of the settlement.

The year 2021 the BTGCA sent Wayne County Burley Co-op members a check in the amount of $5670.00 and the year of 2022 the amount of $3930.00 and the possibility of getting another check in 2023. This $9600.00 helped Wayne County tobacco farmers to transition to other opportunities. Because of new Burley Tobacco Contract requirements from the Tobacco Company's most of Wayne County's Tobacco Growers are not growing tobacco today. Wayne County has only three tobacco growers growing tobacco in 2022.

I feel like I played a vital role in the approximately 30 tobacco growers in Wayne County getting their BTGCA tobacco dissolvement funds, that they received, by informing them of the process of getting qualified.