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As mentioned above, Beaufort Leaf was in the business
of buying and selling tobacco. The marketing of tobacco
is subject to Government regulation under the Agricultural
Adjustment Act of 1938, ch. 30, secs. 311-314, 52 Stat. 45,
current version at 7 U.S.C. secs. 1311-1316 (1994), which
includes a record-keeping mechanism that is designed to
account for all tobacco sales and purchases. See
generally, Cole v. USDA, 33 F.3d 1263, 1265-1266 (11th Cir.
1994). As part of that record-keeping mechanism, dealers,
like Beaufort Leaf, are required to maintain a Dealer's
Record on Form MQ-79 issued by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. The Form MQ-79 is a comprehensive record of
each purchase and resale of tobacco including the date, the
amount of tobacco, the identity of the seller or purchaser,
and a running balance of the amount of tobacco on hand
after each transaction. In the case of purchases or
resales at auction, the Form MQ-79 lists the warehouse at
which the purchase or sale took place and requires a
warehouse representative to sign the dealer's Form MQ-79.
Dealers are required to file their Dealer's Record
with the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service
(ASCS) on a weekly basis. The amount of tobacco marketed
is controlled by a quota system that establishes an allot-
ment of tobacco for each tobacco-producing farm. See Cole
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Last modified: May 25, 2011