How has the transition away from tobacco growing affected rural communities in the state of Kentucky?
Increased global connectivity is responsible for reconfiguring the boundaries of many socio-ecological systems (SES). These are systems which are organized by interacting sets of ecological processes and social institutions, are now coupled - distal systems are connected to one another through flows of material, information, finances, people, and governance structures. As the world becomes increasingly urban, the consumption patterns and resource demands of urban consumers and residents in creasingly drive SES dynamics, even in geographically isolated, rural locations. Given the natural resources available in a region, rural systems build a niche economy around a product for which there is demand (i.e. raw materials like timber and coal, agricultural products, or even tourism). Recently, this urban-rural power dynamic has been made apparent in consumption shifts that, ironically, are related to sustainability and human wellbeing. Societal value changes made to promote broad-scale sustainability goals (for example, preferences for renewable energy) are desirable for some constituents at one scale but may negatively impact the communities that are economically dependent on the production industry, specifically those responsible for resource extraction or production and initial processing.
This research examines one such economic transition in the state of Kentucky. In 2004, driven by changes in consumption due to health concerns, and in surrender to neoliberalism, Kentucky’s state government began a process to transition the state out of its primary agricultural crop: tobacco. Kentucky and North Carolina were the nation’s largest producers of tobacco and, in the 1990s, Kentucky was the most economically tobacco-dependent state in the USA. Many tobacco farmers had off farm jobs to supplement farm income, but several of Kentucky’s most tobacco-dependent counties offered few off-farm employment opportunities, making tobacco an even more critical component of their economies.
Through analysis of semi-structured interviews, this research will explore the perceived economic outcomes of the tobacco transition and whether or not farmers have observed any community changes that might indicate system dynamics that were not anticipated by transitional policy. In addition, this research will provide insight not only on economic and community change since the tobacco buy-out, but whom or what community members blame for current circumstances. Understanding culturally shared designations of attributed fault is helpful for imagining if and how a problem/threat m ight be addressed. If blame falls primarily on subjects external to the community there may be potential for community solidarity to emerge whereas if blame falls on subjects internal to the community, decreased cohesion and division may result.
This paper was presented at the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI) 2018 Conference: "Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World"
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