Features

Know the factors important for setting the correct downforce. Georgia farmers with reduced plant stands in 2019 may be able to correct those problems in 2020 by properly setting and using downforce on their planters, says Wes Porter, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist and precision agriculture expert. Downforce is the pressure farmers apply to their row unit to ... Read More »

William “Bill” Branch, a professor in the University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and a peanut breeder, has been named to the Georgia Seed Development Professorship in Peanut Breeding and Genetics. Since joining the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 1978, Branch has worked to develop new peanut varieties to help with the battle against ... Read More »

For early season pest management, this is an investment you can bank on. As the 2019 growing season fades into the past, growers are making key decisions for the upcoming crop. As always, it’s a balancing act between investment and potential return. “It’s always a difficult decision to make,” says Ken Craft, a grower in the Damascus, Georgia. “In the ... Read More »

Take advantage of this opportunity to give your crop the best possible start. • By Amanda Huber • How many opportunities do you get to put products in furrow that will protect the peanut seed? You get one chance, says Bob Kemerait, University of Georgia plant pathologist. “Once you close that furrow, many of your opportunities are gone. It can ... Read More »

• By Emi Kimura, James Grichar, Pete Dotray and Josh McGinty, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension • Best management practices for peanut production include effective season-long weed management. The four weed management principles in peanut production are: 1. Start clean. 2. Use residual herbicides. 3. Be timely with postemergence applications. 4. Know your weeds. Early season weed management is most important ... Read More »

Resources tailored to farmers’ needs are available. • By Amanda Huber • Soldiers returning from the Gulf War and Afghanistan during the past two decades brought a new group of words to our lexicon: post-traumatic stress disorder. More recently, there has been a dramatic increase in suicides from first responders. In the past few years, with rock-bottom crop prices and ... Read More »

Acreage adjustments have helped reduce carryover, and the same is needed in 2020. • By Amanda Huber • The past three years have been tough, to say the least. A tremendously big crop in 2017 created a carryover that has been looming over producers’ heads. Although adjustments were made in planted acres in 2018 and 2019, those crops were affected ... Read More »

Variety selection is one of the most important decisions in peanut production. The best variety choice is one that will achieve a rapid, uniform stand and provide good yields and grades over a wide range of growing conditions. Most varieties now offer some level of resistance to multiple diseases. Field history, irrigation, planting and harvest capabilities, seed availability, seed quality ... Read More »

Losses nearly double that of prior year. • By Amanda Huber, Editor • Without appropriate management strategies, tomato spotted wilt virus has the potential to become widespread again, says University of Georgia plant pathologist Bob Kemerait. “I would say that 2019 was a wake-up call. It’s an alarm going off,” he says. “In 2020, I’m encouraging growers to recognize that ... Read More »

Check out the 2020 Peanut Grower Pesticide Management Guide. It includes updates to the Disease Risk Index as well as Insect Management and Weed Management sections. Read More »