Final payments under the buyout program begun to wean tobacco growers off a system of government price supports and quotas will be mailed in October, the Associated Press said.

The Tobacco Transition Payment Program as it is formally known was begun after the quota program ended in 2004. Farmers have been compensated since then for surrendering their quotas. The last checks totalling USD 916.5 million (EUR 707.8 million) will be sent to 425,000 tobacco growers and landowners, the AP said.
During the years the buyout was in effect, the number of tobacco farms dropped dramatically but the value of the US tobacco crop has remained roughly stable for the past decade at around USD 1.5 billion, according to the AP.