DATE:    9/4/97
CONTACT: Russ Sutton, (864) 656-3475
WRITER:  Bill Baker, (864) 656-3875
     
Sept. 15 Tobacco Settlement Meeting Set for Farmers

     FLORENCE -- A program titled, "Tobacco Settlement Update and
Farmer Discussion" will be held Monday, Sept. 15, at the Pee Dee
Research and Education Center Auditorium in Florence.
     The meeting, which is jointly sponsored by Clemson University
and the South Carolina Farm Bureau, will begin at 7 p.m.
          The tobacco agreement recently negotiated by tobacco
companies and a group of states' attorneys general will cost the
companies $368.5 billion over 25 years.
     Tobacco producers were not involved in the initial tobacco
agreement, but there appears to be an opportunity now as Congress 
works on the details -- especially on how the fund will be divided,
said Russ Sutton, an agricultural economist with Clemson Extension.
     "If the tobacco producers are to be included in this
settlement, they must make some unified, logical decisions and
present these to the policy makers," Sutton said. "All this must be
accomplished soon."
     The purpose of the Sept. 15 program is two-fold. First, the
settlement and farm-related settlement activities will be
discussed. Then there will be a discussion as to whether the farm
sector should be part of the settlement.
                                END