Oral History Interview with David Erle Boswell

David Boswell by John Klee - Mary Leon [Begin Tape #1, Side #1]

KLEE: The following is an unrehearsed interview with Mr. David Boswell, who is the Commissioner of Agriculture for the . The interview is being conducted in on . I am John Klee, conducting the interview. We can begin just by . . . briefly just tell me a little bit about your background: where you're from, what kind of circumstances you were raised in.

BOSWELL: . I was born in . Come from a pioneer family there in that area. Settled in Henderson County in 1797, the Boswell family did, and I live presently in Daviess County, about four miles from . . . across the county line from where my family settled at that time, so we're taking you 'way back to the beginning. But I've lived in that area all my life. I was raised on a farm. My background primarily has been in government and agriculture, which is an unusual combination. I'm married and have two children, Todd Christopher and David Boswell, Jr., and I've served six years in the House of Representatives representing that area in the General Assembly. Prior to that, I spent eight and a half years in local government, and I've been Commissioner of Agriculture now for three and a half years.

KLEE: What is the constitutional role of the Commissioner of Agriculture? What does the Commissioner of Agriculture do?

BOSWELL: Well, the Commissioner of Agriculture has charge, primarily, of agricultural affairs for the state. It's a statutory position, defined in Kentucky Revised Statues. I'm in charge of marketing of our . . . our commodities that we grow and raise here in . We have approximately twelve divisions within the Department of Agriculture that I sit in charge of: Weights & Measures, Livestock Sanitation, Livestock Disease Control . . . again, marketing of our products. Also inspection of elevators and gas stations. It's a . . . it's a pretty broad responsibility that we have as Commissioner of Agriculture. I also serve of a number of boards and commissions that relate to agriculture, and represent the state from that standpoint.

KLEE: How important is tobacco in relation to your position and maybe just give me a little bit of a thesis on how important tobacco is to the state, in your opinion.

BOSWELL: Tobacco is a multi-billion dollar industry to our state, or for our state. It is a traditional crop, one that has probably separated the financial problems that our farmers are faced with from the financial problems that many of the farmers in the western part, and central part, of the United States have been faced with because the cash value of tobacco has been a factor, that it has supplemented farming incomes across our state. We have approximately ninety-six, ninety-seven thousand farms in at this date, and many of those farms supplement their farming operations with tobacco. Now my position on tobacco, when I took office as Commissioner of Agriculture, well, is a little bit of unorthodox from maybe former commissioners of agriculture position. I have lobbied hard for a tobacco program in I feel that as long as . . . as long as . . . the consumers of the world put demands on consumption of tobacco products, I feel that we, in Kentucky, should reap the economic benefits from that, and have strongly lobbied for tobacco. And yet, at the same time, I have promoted research at the Kentucky Health & Research Institute to develop a safer smoking material, and also develop alternate uses for the leaf, to keep tobacco a viable cash crop. Now that position has not been very well received in certain circles, but it's a fact of life that I feel that . . . that we have had our head in the sand as it relates to this issue. We spent $38 million, probably $40 million, to this date at the research institute in to conclude that cigarette smoking has a hazardous affect on certain people's health. That's not my conclusion; that's the professional researcher's conclusion, and it's my position that, yes, we should recognize that and develop a safer smoking material for those people who wanna continue to smoke, therefore keeping tobacco as a . . . as an important cash crop for our state and taking care of the producers needs.

KLEE: How has it been . . . I know that you sit on, I think, that board there that works with the Tobacco Institute. I've seen your name on the letterhead there, and probably on other kinds of boards and so forth that relate to that. How is . . . how's it been working with tobacco groups and tobacco people?

BOSWELL: For the most part, very well. Again, some of them have recognized that I have lobbied hard, long and hard in for the future of tobacco. And yet, at the same time, they might not agree with my position on . . . on the research program. But I think we have a mutual respect in general.

KLEE: What . . . you . . . you talked about alternate uses for tobacco and so forth. Where . . . where do you see the tobacco farmer in going? What can he . . . what . . . what has the department done in relation to that or what do you perceive?

BOSWELL: Well, what we have tried to . . . now this is in an opinion that I have, and it's also maybe looking into . . . trying to look into a crystal ball, but I feel that as long as there is a support program, and as long as the congress convenes, there will be changes in that program. There will be additional attacks on . . . not tax, but attacks . . . on tobacco by congress and by the Senate and by future administrations. And it's my opinion that . . . that it will be the small tobacco farmer that will suffer the initial impact of any alterations in the program. So we here in the Department of Agriculture have promoted farmers to look at alternate types of cash crops. Now we understand that there's not a cash crop out there, a legal cash crop . . . I'll clarify . . . that . . . that equals the value of tobacco. But at the same time, we have promoted growers associations, and growers co-ops to provide a mechanism for the smaller farms, the smaller farmers of Kentucky, to bind themselves together and maybe raise produce, fruits and vegetables and what have you, and work into a joint market . . . market concept. And it's been very well received. We have over thirty counties in now into growers associations or growers co-ops. We also, here in the department, have recently put in place a computerized telemarketing program, where we match the buyers and the sellers of various agriculture commodities together to help streamline the marketing process for our farmers to help them with their . . . to sell what they produce. So these are some of the things that we've done, and maybe preparing ourselves for maybe a stormy future as it relates to tobacco. Last year, I met with former President [Jimmy] Carter, and some of my counterparts at a place called down in south . . . in . And we had a four-day type summit on the tobacco issue. President Carter's position was with the American Heart Association, the Cancer Society, and the . . . the opponents to tobacco. And they felt that it was . . . would be good to get both sides together, both groups together, and . . . and create some dialogue to attack the situation, find out where we're going. And my message to that group was that if you can show me a cash crop that . . . a legal cash crop [chuckle] . . . that will equal the value of tobacco, for me to take home for my farmers and promote it, I'll do it. But you're not gonna change a hundred years of tradition overnight in this country, and that's what we're faced with when we look at the production of burley tobacco, and the consumption of burley tobacco. There's been some means of a program. There's been a . . . tobacco's been a part of this . . . this country's history, even going far-, farther back than two-, than a hundred years. Going back to the . . . to the founding of our country. Going back two hundred years plus. Tobacco was used as a very important monetary item then and it still is today. And my message to that group was clear, that you can't change that overnight. And it's something that, if we intend to change, my first reaction is to take care of the producer. I want there to be some type of an alternative for the producer to look at, to keep that farmer viable.

KLEE: As . . . if and when the program . . . of course, you know, the . . . the quotas have gone down. The monies that farmers get for their . . . their tobacco has gone down. Has that made . . . and of course there's not that many farmers left. Of course, it's still important in , but nationwide, of course, it's a small percentage. Has that made your job more difficult? That your more or less base of support is kind of declining?

BOSWELL: Well, really it hasn't, from my standpoint. You know, I . . . I . . . as I told some of the people within the industry, that we've been our own worst enemy. I think if there's a problem out there, part of the problem's been generated by those from within because of refusing to . . . to adhere to the research that concluded that cigarette smoking, or the consumption of tobacco, has a hazardous effect on certain people's health. Many of the people within the industry have pulled the . . . put earplugs in, and have pulled a visor down over their eyes and just refused to hear or look at the problem. And . . . and that's created a lot of the problem that we have today in the eyes of congress. We've not done a very good job of defending ourselves.

KLEE: You think the best defense is showing how those ninety-six thousand farms are . . . you know, depend on . . . depend on the crop?

BOSWELL: Sure. I feel that . . . that was the selling point that I had in . That's the selling point that we've used in congress, in that, okay, what are you gonna do? What . . . what's gonna do with these farmers that you're gonna put out of business? Even beyond the farmer. Let's go to the truck driver. Let's go to the guy that works in . . . or the lady that works at the . . . at the factory. The people that . . . it . . . it would have a . . . a domino effect on the economy of this state and the states that produce tobacco. It would go right into the courthouses, and to the downtown business districts of every community in the state of Kentucky, whether . . . you know, you can look at Pikeville, Kentucky, Pike County, that has . . . has no tobacco base. Probably the only county in the state of to my knowledge that does not have a tobacco base. But you can look and see . . . at that county, and there . . . there would definitely be an impact even there because of the . . . the processor or because of, maybe, the coal that's used in the manufacturing of other . . . have a domino effect.

KLEE: When we talk about tobacco, most people think it's central and you implied that it's been tobacco that has kind of provided a cushion for our farmers. You're from down in the western part of the state. Has . . . has dealing with the farm prices been . . . been more troublesome down there?

BOSWELL: Yes it has, especially in the far western part of the state because there's very little burley tobacco in the far western part. We do have some flue-cured tobacco there, and . . . but now where I'm from in the area, we have a lot of tobacco. We have . . . seems like a tobacco warehouse on about every corner there. But the far western part of the state has been . . . had more . . . heavily impacted because it's the grain belt. And the grain situation seems to be where we're running up against a brick wall at this point. And so versus here in the Bluegrass and central tobacco, dairy are . . . seem to be the dominating factors as far as . . .

KLEE: Could you tell me what . . . what's been the biggest challenge during your tenure here? And, you know, first just generally, and then . . . and maybe in relation to tobacco.

BOSWELL: Generally, the biggest challenge that I've had is turning around a very negative situation. When I first took office as Commissioner of Agriculture, it was right in the . . . at the very . . . very worst part of our . . . of our farm woes. And I had an image problem to overcome with the general public. I don't know if you're familiar with the slogan that we use, "Kentucky Soil Touches All of Us." That's the slogan that we used throughout my campaign. It's the slogan that we used throughout my administration because as I campaigned, I saw that there was a general lack of understanding as to what agriculture means to this state. It fluctuates back and forth with coal as being the number one industry in our commonwealth. And there . . . there has been a . . . a . . . how should I put it? An attitude of taking it for granted, and so that's why we put that slogan in place and I've put in . . . in place an ongoing farm city program. We have approximately three percent of our population in that . . . that are production farmers. So that leaves, what? Ninety-seven percent of the people out there that do not directly make their living off the farm. So that ninety-seven percent has . . . has learned to take agriculture for granted, not realizing that one out of five jobs in Kentucky owes its existence to some form of agriculture. Tobacco, one out of fourteen jobs owes its existence to some form of the tobacco industry. So I've found that . . . there to be a lack of that . . . of understanding out there, and we've put in place this farm city program and . . . and it's been a real challenge for me to go to the cities across this state and speak to the Kiwanis and the Civitans and the rotaries and the . . . and the B & PW's and overcome that Old McDonald Had a Farm syndrome that we've experienced for many, many years. And people must learn to recognize that agriculture is a multi-billion dollar revenue generator for this state and for this nation. And until our people understand that, we're gonna continue to have problems out there and, you know, I observed it when I was active at home in the . . . in the farm community. Active with the American Agriculture Movement, and other causes of that nature. I . . . I would see our farmers go to town driving an eighty-five thousand dollar tractor around the courthouse square in protest, and recognizing also that that wasn't the way to . . . to get the job done because people give very little sympathy to a guy driving an eighty-five thousand dollar tractor with an air-conditioned cab around the courthouse square, saying hey, you know, this guy doesn't need our help. And so I found that we need to overcome that, and I made it a . . . an obsession almost over the last three and a half years to turn that around, and we've done so, and of course you're talking about tobacco. It's been a challenge to work to overcome the problems that we're faced with in . It's been a challenge to overcome the . . . the insurance problems that we're faced with in tobacco, you know. There's only one insurance company in the world today that will insure a tobacco warehouse, and that's Lloyd's of London. And so these are the kinds of obstacles that we've have to overcome and even overcoming, again, those in support of tobacco. Some of the things that I mentioned to you earlier on, it's been a real challenge to try to turn those attitudes around.

KLEE: Mr. [John D.] Nichols gave me a lot of specifics, like farm lot and the hay lift and so I've got some good information there. Could you conclude, maybe, by giving me one legacy that you think that . . . that you've left, or will have left after . . . you've still got, oh, nine months on the job or eight months or something.

BOSWELL: Well I . . . I feel that leaving this office, with a comfortable feeling of knowing that I . . . I feel good about there being a better-informed public. As . . . as it relates to agriculture. As it relates to the future of agriculture in this state. I think that that's probably the best feeling that I can have. I think that we've been very well received by the farm community. We've been very well received by organized farm elements in . . . in this state, and I've always kept in mind the words of two famous Americans. One of them was William Jennings Bryan, and in his `Cross of Gold' speech almost a hundred years ago now, he said, "Burn down your cities and save our farms, and the cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in this nation." And there's more truth in that today than probably ever before in the history of our country. And Daniel Webster recognized it a hundred and forty years ago, when he said "The most important work of man is the tilling of the soil." So those are some things that I've kept in mind because history does have a way of repeating itself.

KLEE: Thanks very much for your time.

[End Tape #1, Side #1]

[End of interview]