Digging Out Acreage adjustments have helped reduce carryover, and the same is needed in 2020. By Amanda Huber
T
he 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 by Hurricane Michael, flooding and a quality-degrading drought in 2019. A Carryover Reduction The National Peanut Lab’s Research Director Marshall Lamb says it has taken three years to work off overproduction from the 2017 crop. “Producers made adjustments in acreage during the 2018 and 2019 crops that has moved the carryforward to a better position.” Dell Cotton, executive director of the Peanut Growers Cooperative Marketing Association, Suffolk, Virginia, says 2015 through 2017 were some of the biggest production years, and that’s what created the hole the industry has been trying to dig out of since.
“One reason for those big crops was the introduction of generic base in the 2014 Farm Bill, which resulted in the planting of peanuts over other crops because of the better price. When we got that changed in 2018 is when things started to settle down a bit.” An Increase In Average Yield In 2019, five states produced more than 4,000 pounds per acre: Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The average yield, nationwide, was 3,933 pounds per acre, and Arkansas produced the highest yield at 5,204 pounds per acre. “It’s amazing how well we have developed our varieties,” Cotton says. “Georgia hasn’t dipped below 4,000 pounds per acre since 2012. “It’s one thing to do it in a state like Virginia with 12,000 acres; it’s another thing to do it in a state with 500,000 acres. It really starts with the varieties and ends with having a good harvest.
Market Highlights •
Acreage adjustments have helped reduce carryover.
•
Total U.S. average yield is nearly 4,000 pounds per acre.
•
The 2019 crop had significant aflatoxin levels.
•
Price continues to be near $400 per ton.
•
What effect trade agreements will have is still unknown.
•
Tonnage equal to 2019 would further reduce carryover.
10 /
THE PEANUT GROWER • MARCH 2020
PEANUTGROWER.COM
