and a booming industry took
hold. In the late 1960s
there were approximately 50
farms growing flue-cured
tobacco within an eleven
kilometre (seven mile) radius
of Bothwell.
In the early years,
tobacco farming was – much
like the oil industry – not
| for the faint of heart.
Tobacco farmers and their
families faced many hours of
back breaking work only to
take a gamble that there
would be a profit at the end
of each season. Faced with
uncertain markets, labour
shortages, early frost,
drought and hail, they
| persevered in putting
Bothwell on the map as one
part of the tobacco growing
belt of Ontario.
In 2008, the tobacco
industry in southwestern
Ontario, including Bothwell,
was almost a thing of the
past due to changes in social
| attitudes towards the use of
tobacco, political pressures
and high tariffs. The "green
gold" industry has dwindled
to a mere few growers. The
once lucrative farms that
were the pride of the
community now stand with
decaying barns and kilns - to
serve as a memory of better
|