• By Jessica Domel • Drought took a toll on the Texas peanut crop this season. Shelly Nutt, executive director of Texas Peanut Producers, said the crop looked good initially, but as farmers started harvesting, they noticed a yield loss. “It’s directly attributable to the high temperatures in July and August and no rain. So, we’re a little disappointed,” Nutt ... Read More »
When you’ve got a dry day in a harvest season like this, you go for it. It was this common sense that kept Andy Vangilder, Extension peanut agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Extension plant pathologist Travis Faske and Craighead County Extension agent Chris Grimes working a field of research peanut plots — 48 in all ... Read More »
Peanut harvest season in Sylvester, Georgia, is more than just farmers digging up the fruits of their labor. It’s a time of celebration for agriculture, the sector that drives the economic footprint in this rural community. Sylvester is just one Georgian town that exudes peanut pride. Plains and Brooklet also host peanut festivals in the fall, and Blakely hosts the ... Read More »
Georgia’s recent hot, dry weather has dryland peanut farmers making tough decisions about when to dig their crops, according to Scott Monfort, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension peanut agronomist. Since much of south Georgia has experienced little to no rainfall in the past month and even less is expected over the next few weeks, Monfort is encouraging farmers to move ... Read More »
Dialing in both the ground and conveyor speed will help minimize lost pods. • By Amanda Huber • As many Extension specialists and agents will tell you, more revenue can be made or lost during digging than any other aspect of peanut production from seedbed preparation to combining. That’s why digger setup and operation, along with proper timing, is a critical ... Read More »
1. Field Selection / Rotation: Peanuts require well-drained land and do best on soils with a sandy surface. Avoid fields with recent soybean history as best you can and eliminate from future rotation. Sustainable production requires a minimum of two years, three are better, of cotton or corn, not legumes, in between peanut crops. 2. Soil test: P and K ... Read More »
A peanut broker recently told farmers that the price of peanut kernels was indicating to shellers that we will need fewer peanuts in 2019 than was handled in 2018. This is because of weak domestic demand and uncertainty with respect to exports. That could change, but thus far, the market is urging a cutback. That about sums up the market ... Read More »
Dry, wet, damaged and delayed – how many different weather events can happen in one season? Mark Twain once said, “In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” Multiply that by how many days from planting to harvest across the peanut belt, and that’s about how many different weather situations producers had to ... Read More »
Rain every few days, and eventually snow, hinder producers’ ability to gather this crop. Arkansas farmers planted more than 20,000 acres of peanuts for the third straight year, but this year were enduring a harvest that dragged into December. “Arkansas peanut farmers planted a little over 25,000 acres, which is the third consecutive year of over 20,000 acres for the ... Read More »
Never before have two hurricanes caused such destruction and disruption in the peanut industry. • By Amanda Huber • Florence was a powerful storm that weakened before making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane. Michael continued to grow in strength even a little while after landfall. Florence dumped buckets of rain and freshwater flooding was the primary impact. Michael’s 155 mile ... Read More »
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