After 10 years of annual $1 billion payments to tobacco farmers, tobacco producers feel a great weight being lifted from their shoulders.

Profit margins are on the rise for the producers of tobacco products one year after the expiration of a 10 year federal assessment, the Tobacco Transition Payment Program, which required cigarette manufacturers, cigar companies and smokeless tobacco producers to pay nearly $1 billion annually to tobacco farmers.

According to a report by USA Today, these annual payments, in addition to years of tax increases and declines in smoking, were quite the burden upon the big tobacco companies. Now these companies’ bottom lines are receiving a boost. According to the USA Today report, from 2009 to 2014, the tobacco industry revenue fell 1% as the percentage of American smokers fell by 3%.

Naturally, during the 10 year span that the $1 billion payments were required, revenue fell. In 2009 the profit margin for U.S. tobacco makers was 18.5%. However, in 2014, following the expiration of the program, those profits grew to 24.2%. It is estimated that in 2014 the industry collected $9.7 billion in profit.

As tobacco producers reap the benefits of higher cigarette prices and the absence of the payment program some are developing plans to fund additional projects such as online strategy and to expand into the electronic cigarette market.