Where a year’s work met its price
From 1957 the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board ran three auction exchanges, at Delhi, Tillsonburg and Aylmer.S10 Sales ran on a Dutch clock in a separate, soundproofed room: the price ticked down until a buyer pressed a button to bid, and the grower then had half an hour to inspect the tobacco and accept or reject it.S11
The exchanges closed one by one: Aylmer in the fall of 1986, Tillsonburg in 2007, and Delhi, the last of the three, in 2009, when the quota system was abolished.S11
On 1 August 2008, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz came to the Delhi exchange to announce the Tobacco Transition Program, to help Ontario’s growers leave the industry.S38
Photo wantedThe Delhi exchangeSale days, the clock, buyers and growers on the floor, in any decade. We don’t yet have a photo we can share, or a confirmed account of what became of the building.Share a photo →
Were you on the floor?
Growers, buyers, graders, board staff: if you remember sale days at the Delhi exchange, we’d love to hear from you.