By Amanda Huber
The word “extreme” gained popularity in the last decade to describe risky and dangerous sports activities, especially those having a high level of inherent danger. The sports network, ESPN, capitalized on this phenomenon by introducing the X games and brought the world little known sports activities that involved spectacular stunts, making “sports” stars, such as Shaun White, nicknamed the Flying Tomato for his long red hair, household names for a whole generation.
Then, the word “extreme” was used in the title of the widely watched ABC television show “Extreme Home Makeover.” The word describes the depth of which show hosts go to radically makeover the homes of show participants, unveiling a nearly completely new home with the tagline, “Move that bus.”
Extreme is the only way to describe this peanut season. The extreme drought experienced in Texas is well documented and rivals one of the worst ever. Extreme yields reach the limits on both ends from fields completely abandoned to those registering nearly off-the-chart at more than 7,000 pounds per acre. While disease pressure was slight in most areas, spider mites so completely covered some fields that one could hardly tell it was peanuts underneath all of the webbing.
Management of this year’s crop was extremely difficult as well. Producers faced intense decisions of where water would be used, knowing there would not be enough to go around to every crop that needed it. What would be saved and what would not? From when to plant to when to dig, making decisions for this crop just seemed like pulling teeth.
Once you have been able to collect what you could of this crop and others, the only thing left to do is be extremely glad this year is over. Rest up over the winter, spend time with family and friends and let’s all pray that next year is a little more reasonable and a lot less extreme.