Statistical analysis using rainfall and time trends accounts for county average flue-cured tobacco yields in North Carolina from 1940 to 1987. A change in the annual yield growth path occurred in 1965. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the switch from acreage allotments to poundage quotas for flue-cured tobacco beginning in 1965 caused a decline in both yield levels and rates of annual yield increase. Both declines are fully consistent with changed relevant incentives facing growers and researchers.

(Full article published with kind permission from "Tobacco International")