Inside:
Social Media for Agvocacy n Harvest Guidebook n Georgia Peanut Tour set for September n
A communication service of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation.
Contents July/August 2016
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Joy Carter Crosby Editor joycrosby@gapeanuts.com 229-386-3690 Director of Advertising Jessie Bland jessie@gapeanuts.com
Contributing Writers John Leidner johnleidner@bellsouth.net Teresa Mays Teresa2@alpeanuts.com
Southeastern Peanut Farmer P.O. Box 706, Tifton, Ga. 31793 445 Fulwood Blvd., Tifton, Ga. 31794 ISSN: 0038-3694
Southeastern Peanut Farmer is published six times a year (Jan./Feb., March, April, May/June, July/Aug., and Oct./Nov.) by the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation. The publisher is not responsible for copy omission, typographical errors, or any unintentional errors that may occur, other than to correct it in the following issue. Any erroneous reflection which may occur in the columns of Southeastern Peanut Farmer will be corrected upon brought to the attention of the editor. (Phone 229-3863690.)
Postmaster: Send address changes (Form 3579) to Southeastern Peanut Farmer, P.O. Box 706, Tifton, Georgia, 31793. Circulation is free to qualified peanut growers and others allied to the industry. Periodical postage paid at Tifton, Georgia and additional mailing office.
Editorial Content: Editorial copy from sources outside of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation is sometimes presented for the information and interest of our members. Such material may, or may not, coincide with official Southern Peanut Farmers Federation policies. Publication of material does not necessarily imply its endorsement by the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation. For editorial concerns call 229-386-3690. No portion of this or past issues of the Southeastern Peanut Farmer may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written consent of the editor. By-lined articles appearing in this publication represent views of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher.
Advertising: The Publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertisement. Corrections to advertisements must be made after the first run. All billing offers subject to credit review. Advertisements contained in this publication do not represent an endorsement by the Southeastern Peanut Farmer or the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation. Use of trade names in this publication is for the purpose of providing specific information and is not a guarantee nor warranty of products named. For advertising concerns call 229-386-3690.
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Social Media for Agvocacy
Social media is a becoming the go-to way at reaching millennials. Farmers can take advantage of the free services by sharing their story and educating consumers at the same time through the various social media platforms.
2016 Harvest Guidebook
The 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer’s Harvest Guidebook features information on variable depth digging, overloading trailers and predicting maturity by using new software, PeanutFARM and PeanutPROFILE.
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Georgia Peanut Tour set for September
The 30th annual Georgia Peanut Tour is set for Sept. 13-15, 2016, in the Tifton, Georgia area. The tour provides attendees with a first-hand view of indsutry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization.
Departments: Checkoff Report .................................................................................. 8 Alabama Peanut Producers Association, Florida Peanut Producers Association, Georgia Peanut Commission and Mississippi Peanut Growers Association
Washington Outlook ............................................................................ 20 Southern Peanut Growers Update ........................................................ 22 Cover Photo: Joel Sirmon, farmer from Daphne, Ala., shoots a video clip of peanut planting with his smartphone to share on his Facebook page. Photo by Jessie Bland.
July/August 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer
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Editorial
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Agvocate through Social Media
t’s better to be part of the conversation about food and agriculture than to let someone else lead it. That’s how it works with social media. You can choose to ignore the growing popular method for sharing info and learning about topics or become a part of it and be an advocate for food and agriculture. I joined social media for the first time in 2005 through Facebook. At that time, it was just for reconnecting with family and friends. However, it quickly turned into an additional way to promote peanuts through the Georgia Peanuts Facebook page. Since then, the commission has increased our social media presence to include Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, blogs and more. We are not alone in that growth either. I have witnessed additional peanut checkoff organizations take to the social media platform for promoting peanuts as well as farmers. The interest from farmers on social media seems to have occurred more within the past five years or so. Today, we are able to witness farmers across the U.S. loading videos, posting photos, sharing stories and more about life on the farm, how their crops grow, issues they face. Some posts even include light-hearted moments of funny events on the farm with their children. Either way, each post is critical and needed in order to reach consumers today. Conversations will continue to happen about food and agriculture - even if farmers are not at the table talking, or in this case the social media platform. Sensationalism is replacing science on social media – and we all stand to lose, if we do not take action. It’s time for people with firsthand experience of agriculture to leverage that through social media leadership to influence public opinion, rather than react to rhetoric. It will take experts from all sides of the food plate. Only 98.5 percent of the population aren’t in food production. How can we expect them to understand the origins of food, today’s practices or what’s really happening if we’re not using new media to communicate? Joy Carter Crosby It’s your livelihood, so why not communicate today and be an agvocate on social media! t Editor Calendar of Events continued
u Tri-State Peanut Disease Tour, Sept. 27-29, 2016, Headland, Ala., Quincy, Fla. and Tifton, Ga. For more information contact Albert Culbreath at spotwilt@uga.edu. u Central Florida Peanut Festival, Oct. 1, 2016, Williston, Fla. For more information visit willistonfl.com.
u Georgia Peanut Festival, Oct. 15, 2016, Sylvester, Ga. For more information visit gapeanutfestival.org.
u Sunbelt Ag Expo, Oct. 18-20, 2016, Moultrie, Ga. For more information visit sunbeltexpo.com or call 229-985-1968.
u Georgia Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, Dec. 3-5, 2016, Jekyll Island, Ga. For more information visit gfb.org.
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u American Peanut Council Winter Conference, Dec. 6-9, 2016, Washington, D.C. For more information visit peanutsusa.com. Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
Calendar of Events
u American Peanut Shellers Association and National Peanut Buying Points Association Pre-Harvest Meeting, Aug. 2-3, 2016, Lake Blackshear Resort and Golf Club, Cordele, Ga. For more information visit peanut-shellers.org or call 229-888-2508.
u Twilight Peanut Field Day, Aug. 9, 2016, I.C. Terry Farm, Lake City, Fla. For more information call 386-623-1315.
u Southwest Georgia Research & Education Center Field Day, Aug. 10, 2016, Plains, Ga. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. For more information call 229-824-4375.
u Florida Peanut Field Day, Aug. 11, 2016, North Florida Research and Education Center, Marianna, Florida. For more information call 850-526-1611. u Wiregrass Research and Extension Center Field Day, Aug. 19, 2016, Headland, Ala. For more information call 334-693-2363.
u Brooklet Peanut Festival, Aug. 20, 2016. For more information visit the festival’s website at brookletpeanutfestival.com.
u Southeast Georgia Research & Education Center Field Day, Aug. 24, 2016, Midville, Ga. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. For more information call 478-589-7472. u Extension Farm Field Day, Aug. 25, 2016, West Florida Research and Education Center, Jay, Fla. For more information call 850-995-3720. u Wiregrass Agronomy Tour, Aug. 30, 2016. Buses available for tour. Participants must RSVP by calling 334-693-3800.
u CUniversity of Georgia Cotton/Peanut Research Field Day, Sept. 7, 2016, Tifton, Ga. For more information call 229-386-3324.
u Georgia Peanut Tour, Sept. 13-15, 2016, Tifton, Ga. For more information visit the tour website at georgiapeanuttour.com. u Plains Peanut Festival, Sept. 24, 2016. For more information visit plainsgeorgia.com. (Let us know about your event. Please send details to the editor at joycrosby@gapeanuts.com.
Using S
ocial media is quickly becoming the go-to way to reach millennials. Farmers and agriculture organizations and businesses can take advantage of the free services by sharing their story and educating consumers at the same time through the various social media platforms. “Social media is how the world connects and communicates today – more instantly and efficiently than ever,” says Mark Dvorak, executive director of Golin, a public relations firm representing the National Peanut Board. “Any industry that wants to be relevant has to have a thoughtful presence there.” Today, there are many individuals who do not know where their food comes from and as a result don’t trust the act of farming. Joel Sirmon, farmer from Daphne, Alabama, wants to help change that. He attended a social media workshop
for Agvocacy
at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting in January and learned more about the process. Since then, Sirmon has started shooting videos with his smartphone to load on his personal Facebook page of different events at the farm. He has loaded videos of planting peanuts, planting and harvesting sweet potatoes, and more. “I believe it is my duty as a farmer to tell my story and to help teach others about agriculture,” Sirmon says. “We can’t rely on others to share what we have first-hand knowledge and experience of, especially when we can share it on a more personal level through our personal social media pages.” According to Michelle Payn, founder of Cause Matters Corp., a company designed to build connections around the food plate, people today are in information overload. “We don’t need
Joel Sirmon, farmer in Daphne, Ala., shoots a video clip of peanut planting with his smartphone to share on his Facebook page.
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Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
more content; we need meaningful content - funny, heart tugging, human content,” she says. That’s where tailoring your content to your audience becomes relevant today when posting on social media or sharing videos on YouTube, says Leslie Wagner, executive director of Southern Peanut Growers. “The real power in social media though is the unique opportunity it provides for conversation, and even in relationship-building, between organizations and individuals,” Wagner adds. Prior to social media, organizations put information out into the world through advertising and media relations activities, but it was much more difficult to measure the impact those communications might be having, Wagner adds. “It’s one thing to know how many people had an opportunity to see your ad in a magazine or newspaper, it’s a more meaningful number to know how many people spent time with your content through click-throughs, sharing or even just liking your content on social media,” Wagner says. The same holds true when individuals are trying to educate and share positive messages about agriculture through social media. According to research from Payn, the activist presence has increased 500 times through social media in the last 10 years. “If your voice is not in the conversation talking about how peanuts are grown, showing pictures of what you do or offering insight on why peanuts grow the way they do - whose voice will be? Will it be an environmentalist or a foodie talking without knowledge?” Payn says. “Today’s times requires farmers to share their story as a best business
Social Media Tips
n Use the method that works for you. - Find one tool, commit to 15 minutes per day for 3 weeks. - Evaluate efforts and adjust as necessary.
n Make content relevant and personal. - Post photos of you and your family working on the farm. - Post weekly updates about what is going on at your farm (planting, harvest). - Discuss one thing you would like the public to understand about agriculture and farming. - Translate farm and ag technical terms. (Do not use acronyms.) - Show why you farm, take care of the environment and operate a family business. n Engage the public and target audience by various methods - Responding to questions and comments, showing interesting videos and photos. n Like & follow your local media, businesses and industry organizations for the crops you grow and livestock you raise.
practice.” Today there are many efforts to communicate agriculture’s story to the public. One of those organizations, the Ag Chat Foundation, began as a weekly moderated Twitter conversation that still continues today. However, Ag Chat also holds training conferences to teach and coach farmers how to use social media tools to join the conversation and tell their story. “The bottom line is that what started as platforms to communicate via the internet such as blog and podcasts or for students (Facebook) have become powerful tools for individuals and businesses,” says Chuck Zimmerman, owner of ZimmComm New Media. “Agriculture is just one industry that is learning to make good use of these tools.” Additional examples of positive social media relating to agriculture include the YouTube videos by the Peterson Brothers in Kansas, Pink Tractor, Agriculture Proud farm blog, Keeping It Real: Through the Lens of a Farm Girl and the Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. All of these examples share positive examples on the farm and help to educate the 80 million millennials today with a spending power of $1.6 trillion. Millennials represent the age range from 20 to 37.
It may seem overwhelming to know where to start or to even think your personal Facebook page could have an influence. However, if farmers are not sharing their story then they are leaving it up to others to share information and in some cases misinformation. Payn recommends finding one social media tool and commit to 15 minutes per day for about 3 weeks to begin with. Afterwards, farmers can evaluate the results and decide what the best fit is. “You don’t have to do it all at once,” she says. “Today there is a social media option for everyone, which can be overwhelming. Focus on one, see how it fits you and then adjust as necessary.” The utilization of social media is also a necessary component of organizations and agribusinesses today. There are several organizations within the peanut industry who are utilizing various social media tools to help educate about farming practices and market peanuts to millennials. In 2016, the National Peanut Board unveiled their plans for social media for the future. One of those components includes work with Peanut Vendor on Twitter. “For the National Peanut Board, we’ve dialed up our engagement with millennials - the first generation to grow
Popular Social Media Platforms
Facebook 1.65 billion monthly active users Twitter 310 million monthly active users
Instagram 500 million monthly active users
Pinterest 100 million monthly active users
YouTube 1 billion active users
* User data from the first quarter of 2016
up with peanut bans and other nuts spending millions to steal share from peanuts,” Dvorak says. “Fortunately, millennials are also the social media generation so we are working with Peanut Vendor and other platforms which are designed to foster the same love for peanuts among millennials their parents and grandparents already have.” Through social media we can determine almost instantly which messages, content and images millennials love and which ones they don’t, Dvorak adds. “So, we can make changes and push stronger content without having to wait a year to make changes,” he says. Additionally, Southern Peanut Growers is continuing their social media efforts through a variety of platforms to get people excited about eating peanut butter. According to Wagner, social media is SPG’s primary way to promote the PB My Way consumer recipe contest each year in March and other events with National Peanut Month and Peanut Butter Lovers Month in November. Farmers and industry organizations working together to tell the agriculture story and market peanuts through social media is one way the industry can continue to educate consumers and be an agvocate. t BY JOY CROSBY
July/August 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer
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Checkoff Report
Investments Made by Growers for the Future of the Peanut Industry. Georgia Peanut Commission sponsors Georgia FFA
The Georgia Peanut Commission and the Peanut Institute teamed up to sponsor the Georgia FFA Star in Agriscience Award during the state convention held in Macon, Georgia. The State Star in Agriscience Award was presented to Hunter Corbett of Rodney Dawson, Georgia Peanut Lowndes County. The state finalists were Rachel Solomon Commission board member, congratulates the Star in Agriscience winners for Georgia of Northeast Bibb FFA FFA. Pictured left to right, Dawson, Hunter Chapter and Viral Patel of Corbett, State winner from Lowndes Madison County FFA Chapter. County; Rachel Solomon, Central Region winner from Northeast Bibb; and Viral The Georgia Peanut Patel, North Region winner from Madison Commission also exhibited County. during the career show and sponsored the Georgia FFA Alumni photo booth during the career show. Each member received a 4x6 print with the Georgia Peanuts logo displayed on the photo.
GPC hosts Wiregrass Bike to Farm Tour
The Georgia Peanut Commission hosted twenty bike riders through the Wiregrass Bike to Farm Tour on June 18, 2016. The participants biked a casual 7-mile ride through Tifton, Georgia, and the surrounding countryside with stops at several sites of agricultural interest. The bikers Bike riders recently visited the visited an edible landscape site with Georgia Peanut Commission during the Wiregrass Bike to Farm unusual/innovative crops, a community garden, a farmers market, Tour, June 18, 2016 in Tifton, Ga. the University of Georgia Future Farmstead, an organic vegetable/fruit production test plots, and the Georgia Peanut Commission’s education center. GPC provided educational information about peanuts along with bags filled with roasted Georgia peanuts, peanut butter crackers and recipes to the bike riders.
GPC educates children from Quitman
The Georgia Peanut Commission continues to educate children about peanuts and the nutritional benefits of adding peanuts and peanut butter to their diet by hosting school groups at their office in Tifton, Georgia. Approximately 75 children from Quitman, Georgia, from Pre-K to 5th grade recently visited the GPC educational center to learn more about peanuts.
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Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
16th Annual CARES Awards in Florida
The 2016 County Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship (CARES) awards were recently awarded to 11 farm families in the Suwannee and Santa Fe River Basin areas. These farmers have implemented science-based and field tested Best Management Practices that continue to protect and conserve Florida’s natural resources. The CARES awards celebration was held at the Suwannee Valley Agricultural Extension Center in Live Oak, Florida, where more than 700 William Carte, Suwannee attendees could visit 15 County farmer and alternate board mmember to the National different food stations and Peanut Board and Ken Barton, sample some of Florida’s FPPA, serve grilled PB&Js at best food and agricultural the 2016 CARES Awards. products. A few of the foods enjoyed by the crowd were grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gator tail, watermelon, brisket sliders, sweet corn and several others. “The CARES awards provides Florida Peanut Producers Association the opportunity to show our support for and honor the award recipients for their efforts in conserving and protecting Florida’s natural resources,” says Ken Barton, executive director of the FPPA.
MPGA and Southern Peanut Growers sponsor Eat Y’all write and chef tour The Mississippi Peanut Growers Association along with Southern Peanut Growers participated in the 2016 Eat Ya’ll Writer and Chef Tour at U.S. Foods, May 19, 2016, in Jackson, Mississippi. The Southern Peanut Growers have sponsored Eat Ya’ll this year to help connect peanuts with the culinary world in a unique way with food events all across the South. Ten food writers attended this event which involved a threeday tour in the Jackson area of farms and food industries. B. Jones, MPGA board member and Malcolm Broome, MPGA executive director participated in the final day of the tour at U.S. Foods. These writers enjoyed the opportunity to meet an actual peanut grower during the event. Leslie Wagner, executive director of Southern Peanut Growers helped with this event and provides more details on the SPG page in this issue. See page 22.
Reports from the: Alabama Peanut Producers Association Florida Peanut Producers Association Georgia Peanut Commission Mississippi Peanut Growers Association Alabama billboards promote peanuts
Billboards promoting peanuts have been strategically placed in four high beach traffic areas for the southern part of the state including Dothan, Foley, Enterprise and Ozark, Alabama. The message, “Peanuts, A Better Beach Snack,” relays a positive message to thousands of motorists that will travel to the Gulf Coast beaches this summer. The promotion is being funded in part from co-promotion funding to the Alabama Peanut Producers Association from the National Peanut Board. The boards will remain in place through the Labor Day weekend.
FPPA attends Florida School Nutrition Association Conference
The Florida Peanut Producers Association (FPPA) attended and exhibited at the Florida School Nutrition Association Conference in Daytona Beach, Florida, May 12-14, 2016. A record crowd of school food service personnel gathered to learn the most up to date information on providing Florida’s students with healthy choices for school breakfast and lunch menus. “We were happy to see many different peanut Ken Barton, Florida Peanut Producers Association executive director, visits butter products offered for school food service with attendees during the Florida menus,” says Ken Barton, FPPA executive director. School Nutrition Association “As we visited with school district food service Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla. directors, managers and dietitians we found, in many districts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are still the most popular menu item offered. We encouraged school districts to make sure they know that Florida Peanut Producers Association is available to assist when allergy concerns or issues arise.” FPPA provided the attendees with health and nutritional information and brochures that help to distinguish fact from fiction in regards to peanut allergy. We also provided roasted peanuts and single serve packages of peanut butter for snacks and food service size recipe cards for cafeteria staff.
MPGA funds research grants with National Peanut Board
The Mississippi Peanut Growers Association (MPGA) along with the National Peanut Board has approved funding for three research grants to scientists at Mississippi State University. Two of the grants are continued funding for Standardization of Mississippi Peanut Variety Trials and Evaluation of Optimum Peanut Rotation Length as Affected by the presence or Absence of Soybean in Rotation. The third grant will involve nitrogen rescue treatments where peanuts were not properly inoculated at planting. Additional research funding is being carried out with the checkoff dollars from Mississippi peanut growers with support from Mississippi State University (MSU) Research and Extension Centers. Peanut research continues to grow under the leadership of Jason Sarver as he begins his third year at MSU as peanut agronomist. The MPGA is hoping to obtain an answer on the age-old question that continues to arise as to the length of peanut rotation and will peanuts following soybean be detrimental for farmers in Mississippi.
APPA exhibits at Alabama Ag in the Classroom
This year’s Alabama Ag in the Classroom summer conference was held in Prattville, Alabama, and welcomed approximately 90 teachers from across the state to the three-day meeting. A special presentation was made by APPA to educate teachers on the health benefits of peanuts and current research and findings on peanut and food allergies.
Alabama teachers are able to get a firsthand look at fresh vegetables at EAT South, an urban garden in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, during the Ag in the Classroom Conference.
Teachers were also able to get a first hand look at fresh vegetables at EAT (Educate, Act, Transform) South, an urban garden in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. The facility was established in 2012 to promote the principles of food justice through education and sustainable farming.
GPC exhibits at Georgia Young Farmer Summer Tour
The Georgia Peanut Commission exhibited at the Georgia Young Farmers Association Summer Tour in Dublin, Georgia, June 24, 2016. The tour showcases Marcus Evans, agriculture in the host Georgia Peanut county. The commis- Commission, visits with attendees during sion distributed peanuts and education the Georgia Young Farmers Association materials to attendees. Summer Tour.
July/August 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer
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2016
HARVEST GUIDEBOOK
Variable digging to the RiteDepth
S
lowly but surely, precision farming technology is coming to that most important end-of-season production chore of digging and inverting peanuts. Scott Monfort, University of Georgia Extension peanut agronomist, says a variable depth digger would have great potential for many peanut growers. Peanuts are often lost when digging too deep or digging too shallow, according to Monfort. Digging too shallow leaves peanuts in the ground while digging too deep tends to bring up soil that clings to peanuts. This past year, two companies, Ag-Tastic Solutions and Greentronics have joined forces to introduce commercially available variable depth digging technology. Scott Graddy with Ag-Tastic Solutions of St. Augustine, Florida, says their RiteDepth technology features sonar sensors to automatically maintain the correct depth of digging. Graddy says Ag-Tastic Solutions is a dealer for the Greentronics, AgLeader and other precision farming technology manufacturers. The end result should be fewer peanuts left to rot in the field. The technology frees tractor drivers from the need to constantly turn around to check on the digging and to frequently adjust digging depth with manual controls, according to Graddy. Kyle Sheffield, a peanut grower from Iron City, Georgia, used the system in his peanuts last year and was pleased with the results. In high yielding peanuts, Sheffield believes the system will help to save 100
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to 150 pounds of peanuts per acre. Graddy credits Sheffield for coming up with one of the key components that makes the system possible. Sheffield developed a gauge wheel that he attached to a coulter fame and then bolted the gauge wheel assembly to the rigid frame of his six-row KMC digger. “I used a coulter frame from an old strip till rig, and bolted a wheel from the back of an old rotary mower to the coulter frame,” Sheffield says. He mounted the sonar sensor above the wheel so the sonar would constantly measure the vertical position of the wheel with respect to the digger frame. Sheffield also selected a spring that provides enough tension to keep the wheel in contact with the ground. The spring tension prevents the wheel from bouncing up and down during the digger’s operation. The sonar sensor uses the wheel as a reference point for the ground location. Sheffield says he wanted to have an automated digging depth controller that would adjust the digging depth based on readings from a potentiometer. However, he couldn’t see how a potentiometer would work with all of the peanut foliage that is still growing when peanuts are dug. Potentiometers are sometimes called “pots.” These are small devices commonly used on farm equipment that send out electronic signals. They can help control the location of components such as the height of combine headers or spray booms. Bert Menkveld is an engineer based in Elmira, Ontario, with the Greentronics firm. He says his firm makes the electronic component of the system.
Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
A sonar sensor located within the white metal tube takes constant readings on the position of a wheel relative to the position of the digger frame as it moves across the ground.
Greentronics is known for its height and depth controllers and yield monitors for use in managing root crops such as potatoes. The Greentronics controller is installed in the tractor cab and it features an easy-to-read screen along with a keypad that allows engaging and disengaging the automatic depth changes. It also allows the target digging depth to be adjusted. There’s a short distance of only one or two inches between digging too deep and digging too shallow, according to Sheffield. Sheffield says he was able to set up the system, calibrate it and set the desired
Kyle Sheffield believes he is saving 100 to 150 pounds of peanuts per acre with on-the-go adjustments to peanut digging depth.
digging depth after just a few hours of work. He says, “It worked so well that my dad came and kicked me off the tractor so he could dig all of our peanuts last season.” His dad, Troy Sheffield, would not have been so eager to dig peanuts had the variable depth technology not been in place. Kyle says, “When my dad used it, he said it worked great on flat ground, and most of our fields are flat. However, when he was digging peanuts over a wash or
eroded area, then he would disengage the automatic mode and adjust the digger height manually.” “I’ve wanted one of these for at least seven or eight years,” Kyle says. “Newer tractors are equipped with electronic lift switches, and they are not really fine tuned for lifting and lowering the peanut digger as soil conditions change.” Before he could start using the system, Kyle first had to convince his dad to invest in a hydraulic top link. The hydraulic top link connects the tractor with the digger and is used to raise and lower the depth of the digging blade. Hydraulic top links are able to receive the electronic signals that automatically raise and lower the digging blade. Graddy says a farmer who already has a hydraulic top With spring tension, this wheel follows the ground and provides a location link should be able reference point for sonar and the controller that automatically adjusts the to save $1,000 to depth of the digging blades.
$2,000 of the cost for the system. When digging peanuts, Kyle likes to see the roots cut at about a half inch below the hanging peanuts. “After peanuts are inverted, I like to see a half inch of the taproot showing,” he says. Kyle says he would some day like to try the technology out on terraced land and on a flexible frame digger-shakerinverter. “On a flexible frame digger, it would require three sonar sensors and three cylinders for raising and lowering the blades,” he adds. Sheffield found another use for the technology when he added it to his peanut combine. He had been running an older model Amadas self-propelled combine, and didn’t like having to get out of the cab to make adjustments to its height and other settings. The Greentronics and Ag-Tastic components allow these adjustments to be made on-the-go. However, Sheffield says the sonar sensor must be cleaned after every two rounds on the combine. Dust during peanut digging is not the issue it is during combining. t BY JOHN LEIDNER
July/August 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer
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P
Clemson delves into variable depth digging Harvest Guidebook
otentiometers, a hydraulic top link and a depth gauge are some of the key components for an on-thego variable depth digging system being developed by researchers at Clemson University. The Clemson team is working on the project with Amadas Industries under an agreement that would grant Amadas the rights to market the jointly developed technology. Joe Boddiford of Sylvania, Georgia, and his son Knapp Boddiford have used the Clemson system to dig peanuts on their farm. Knapp says he used it to dig about 350 acres with a six-row KMC digger. Knapp says, “An experienced farmer might be able to dig peanuts as efficiently as this system, but this technology should really help operators who are less qualified and less experienced in digging.” Knapp likes the Clemson system because it didn’t require any major adjustments to the existing digger. He found the system easy to use, even with a laptop computer in the tractor cab providing the digging depth data. He also likes that the system can be moved from one digger to another with little extra work. Kendall Kirk, Clemson ag engineer at the Edisto Research and Education Center near Blackville, South Carolina, helped to develop Clemson’s variable depth digger. Kirk believes the system could become
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Andrew Warner (left), Clemson University area agronomic agent, and Joe Boddiford (center), farmer from Sylvania, Ga., discuss the components of the Clemson research on variable depth digging to attendees at the 2014 Georgia Peanut Tour.
commercially available after a few more years of testing. Kirk says the research could be speeded up if he were able to conduct additional testing in Australia. He started out testing the system on a two-row digger, and has since added the technology to six-row diggers. He installed one depth gauge on the two-row digger and two depth gauges on the sixrow digger. He hasn’t yet installed the system on a flexible frame digger, in part because he believes the payback time would be much longer. Soil moisture also has a bearing on results. Kirk says more peanuts are saved by the variable blade depth during dry conditions. Kirk envisions that the system could be used as an option to buy
Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
for new diggers or as a retrofit farmers could purchase separately for use on existing diggers. He hopes the system could be easily added to existing peanut diggers, regardless of which brand of digger growers use. If the Clemson system is priced at $5,000 per digger, Kirk says it should pay for itself after 200 acres if a farmer is able to save 100 pounds of peanuts per acre and if peanuts are priced at 25 cents per pound. In the original Clemson tests, Kirk and his colleagues used maps for soil electrical conductivity as generated by a Veris implement. With the Veris maps, soil texture was divided into three categories depending on sand and clay content, and the digging was set at an ideal depth for each of the three categories. t
BY JOHN LEIDNER
Bring the peanuts in efficiently and safely
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Harvest Guidebook
ou have done everything you can to produce a high yielding, high quality peanut crop. The peanuts have been plowed up for two days and looking really good. One problem – your neighbors have done the same thing and drying trailers are in short supply. There’s good chance of rain tonight and it looks like it could rain for several days, so you have to get the peanuts into the buying point for drying and handling. You only have two semi-drying trailers available so you put as many of the wet peanuts on the trailer as possible, rounded up over the top. Your driver comes and picks up the trailer and begins pulling the peanuts to the buying point. On the way, a car full of teenagers on the way to the football game runs a stop sign in front of your driver and a tragic accident occurs. The Department of Public Safety shows up to investigate the accident and estimates the gross vehicle weight was over 100,000 pounds. Even though your driver is not at fault for the accident, somebody makes
A combine loads a trailer with peanuts during harvest.
Follow these guidelines when harvesting and loading trailers and peanut wagons.
n Run the combine header just above the ground to minimize harvesting rocks and dirt (i.e. don’t pay to haul and dry dirt)
n Check combine settings throughout the afternoon to adjust for changing vine conditions as a result of changing humidity to minimize foreign material and LSK. n Load trailers/wagons evenly from front to back. n Do not overfill.
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“One call – that’s all” and now you, your family farm, your driver, and the peanut buying point are all at risk because the trailer was recklessly overloaded beyond the legal weight limit where the truck could not have possibly stopped in time. Luckily, there are relatively few accidents involving drying trailers, like the one described above. A 45-ft. semitrailer converted into a drying trailer can hold 2,700 ft3 of peanuts. At 7 percent moisture content, with no foreign material, those peanuts can weigh approximately 54,000 pounds. At 15 percent moisture content, those same peanuts can weigh 59,100 pounds; and at 20 percent moisture content, the peanuts will weigh 62,775 pounds. The average empty or tare weight for the truck and trailer is 32,000 to 36,000 pounds. So you can see that even a dry (7 percent) load of peanuts can exceed the legal weight limit of 80,000 pounds. At the average
Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
moisture content that peanuts are typically transported to the buying point (15 percent), the gross vehicle weight can easily be 92,000 pounds. Add another 5 percent for foreign material and you are close to 98,000 pounds. In addition to the potential for accidents, overloading trailers can cause catastrophic failure of running gear, brakes, and landing gear. Drying fans do not perform as designed when trailers are overloaded extending drying time and increasing the non-uniformity of drying. Increased drying times reduce the availability of trailers to move peanuts from the field. Non-uniform drying increases the risk of mold growth and causes problems throughout the processing chain from the farmer stock warehouse to the roaster. t
BY CHRIS BUTTS NATIONAL PEANUT RESEARCH LAB
Predicting maturity with PeanutFARM
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Harvest Guidebook
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BY JOY CROSBY
Proper Collection and Evaluation of a Peanut Maturity Sample Step 1
Step 2
Starting with the first plant remove ALL pods - from matchheads (when tip of peg is swollen) to fully developed pods (keeping them separated), and continue with subsequent plants until you have 180-200 pods. If you start a plant you MUST pick it clean, regardless of the number of pods collected thus far.
Step 3
After reaching 180-200 pods, discard the match heads as they will not be blasted, but be sure to know the total number of pods being blasted (this number will be needed if doing a maturity proportion over boarding/scanning).
Credit: Ethan Carter
Credit: Andy Schreffler
Collect and bag 4-5 plants (or enough to produce 180200 pods) in random places throughout the field, be sure to collect WHOLE plants as your sample will otherwise be inaccurate. If multiple peanut varieties or soil types are present in the same field, separate samples should be collected. If you know that certain areas of the field have not performed like the others through the season, take separate samples from those locations. AVOID: collecting at end or edge rows and deficient areas.
Step 4
Make a wire basket from 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth to contain the pods during blasting. Fasten the hardware cloth together at the sides with wire or zip ties; it should have a diameter small enough to fit inside a 5 gallon bucket to prevent splashing (drill holes or have it equipped with a drain to prevent it from filling with water.) The samples can be blasted with water using a pressure washer to easily remove the exocarp. Hold the nozzle approximately 12 inches from the pods in the basket when blasting, stop and collect the immature pods that have the mesocarp exposed (white and yellow) about 30 seconds into blasting so they are not destroyed, you may then finish blasting the more mature pods. Credit: Kelly Racette
Potential Evaluation Methods for a Peanut Maturity Sample Maturity Ratio
Calculate one sample at a time by summing the combined number of pods from the brown and black classes, and dividing that number by the total number of pods from the BLASTED sample (not the larger number that included matchheads) and then multiplying by 100 to convert it to a percent. Average ratios from the samples collected in the same field to determine if there is an optimal field maturity of 70 percent or more.
Credit: Ethan Carter
eanut farmers have another option to predict optimum maturity of their peanuts thanks to research funded by their checkoff organizations. The mobile and web based platform of PeanutFARM delivers harvest aid predictions online at peanutfarm.org. PeanutFARM stands for Peanut Field Agronomic Resource Manager. The program is a collaborative effort between the University of Florida, University of Georgia and Auburn University. Lead researcher on the project, Diane Rowland, crop physiologist at the University of Florida, also credits the work of Ethan Carter and Brendan Zurweller in their graduate research work on PeanutFARM and PeanutPROFILE. According to Rowland, “added features within the PeanutFARM smartphone application include a field GPS coordinate locator that automatically records the location of a particular field and associates the field with the closest weather station.” Identifying the field location and connecting to the closest weather station allows the program to automatically import daily evapotranspiration, maximum and minimum temperatures, and rainfall. “These parameters are then used to calculate adjusted cumulative growing degree days (aGDDs) specific for peanuts, which are used to estimate plant available water and demand over the growing season, as well as the maturity level of the crop,” Rowland says. The maturity tools offered in the PeanutFARM suite are two methods that both predict and quantify the maturity level of the crop. Maturity prediction is achieved through an automatic calculation of the aGDDs – a value of 2,500 accumulated aGDDs has been shown to be predictive of optimal maturity for most available peanut cultivars. When using PeanutPROFILE, a grower uploads a scanned image of blasted peanut pods to receive a days to dig estimation based on the percent of mature (brown and black) pods. Future updates for the PeanutPROFILE tool are aimed at allowing a grower to upload a picture of blasted pods taken from their smartphone directly, without having to scan the pods. Testing for validating the scheduling tool is ongoing in all three states to ensure regionally accurate predictions are provided and improvements can be made. t
Maturity Profile Board
Lay the pods on the board one sample at a time using the color of the saddle to place them within the chart columns to determine the days until digging. This option allows you to see whether or not the field has a bimodal distribution with many pods being in both the very immature and mature ranges, with few being in the middle. Once the pods have been laid out, an estimated days until digging can be viewed on the bottom right side of the board. Boarding a sample will take about 15-20 minutes.
PeanutFARM/Peanut Profile
Saddle region
Lay one sample at a time on a scanner (all pods saddle side down), when finished put a BLUE poster board Credit: Ethan Carter (allows for best image) over them and press scan. Placement should take roughly 5-7 minutes. Name the file with the current date and your last name (Ex. 41716Smith.jpg), when uploading multiple samples add the number to the end of the file name, such as 41716Smith2.jpg and then upload it to the website (http://peanutfarm.org/peanut_profiles), the results should be emailed to you within 15 minutes. Source: University of Florida
Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
2016 Georgia Peanut Tour set for September
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he thirtieth annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held September 13-15, 2016, in Tifton, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The tour brings the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. Tour stops will be made in several peanut producing counties including Tift, Irwin, Coffee and Ben Hill County. Attendees can expect to see first-hand nearly every aspect of peanut production in the state. This year’s tour hosts many exciting stops including on-farm harvest demonstrations and clinics, peanut processing facilities, and several special highlights which include research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, Peanut Partners Buying Point and Premium Peanut LLC in Douglas as well as American Blanching Company in Fitzgerald. The tour kicks off this year with the Hot Topics Seminar on Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture in Tifton, Georgia. The seminar topics include an update on the 2016 Georgia peanut crop and a Washington legislative update. This year’s presentations will also focus on the Georgia Peanut Team efforts
During the 2015 Georgia Peanut Tour, attendees were able to see how peanuts are harvested in Bainbridge, Georgia.
through research and Extension programs in Georgia to enhance the entire peanut value chain. The Georgia Peanut Commission, University of Georgia-Tifton Campus and Griffin Campus, Southwest Research & Education Center, Attapulgus Research & Education Center, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service National Peanut Research Lab coordinate the tour. Hotel accommodations can be made at the Country Inn and Suites in Tifton by
calling 229-382-8100 or the Comfort Inn & Suites in Tifton by calling 229-3828250. Rooms are available at the rate of $85 plus tax for a standard room. Be sure to ask for the Georgia Peanut Tour room block. Visit georgiapeanuttour.com to register and view tour schedule. For more information, contact Hannah Jones at hannah@gapeanuts.com or call at 229-386-3470. t
Provost® Opti Fungicide available for 2016
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eanut farmers’ arsenal of protection against soilborne and leaf spot diseases just got stronger with the 2016 introduction of Provost® Opti. This broadspectrum fungicide provides the same excellent disease protection and efficacy as Provost in a new formulation for enhanced tankmix flexibility. “Provost has ranked at or near the top of university trials year-after-year, and now Provost Opti makes it easier and more convenient to get that high level of peanut protection in a formulation that mixes well with EC pyrethroids, chlorothalonil and micronutrients, including boron and others,” says Thorsten Schwindt, Bayer product manager.
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Provost Opti excels when disease pressure is highest due to its wide range of activity on foliar and soilborne diseases, including white mold and Cylindrocladium black rot (CBR). This protection can add up to significant yield increases. After application, Provost Opti moves in both directions: downward to protect unsprayed areas of the canopy, and upward to new leaves. This movement can provide protection to pegs, lower leaves and stems — even when these areas are not sprayed directly. Not only does this contribute to greater yields, the fungicide is also a good choice for resistance management.
Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
“Managing resistance is critical,” Schwindt says. “As the leading triazole fungicide brand in peanuts, Provost Opti doesn’t have a strobilurin or SDHI component, which makes it a good fit for resistance management programs because it can be rotated with products containing these chemistries.” To learn more about Provost Opti fungicide, visit cropscience.bayer.us or contact your local sales rep. t
Washington Outlook by Robert L. Redding Jr.
Peanut industry expresses support for Farm Credit system
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the Farm Credit System (FCS). The American Bankers Association (ABA) has made critical statements regarding the Farm Credit System. The ABA testified before the senate committee stating: The Farm Credit System has moved dramatically away from its charter to serve young, beginning and small farmers and ranchers, and now primarily serves large established farms, who could easily obtain credit from the private sector. In fact, the majority of Farm Credit System loans outstanding are in excess of $1 million. Any farmer able to take on over $1 million in debt does not need subsidized credit. The Georgia Peanut Commission and the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation joined other agricultural organizations in submitting a letter supporting the FCS to the committee. The support letter added the organizations to the hearing record as standing firmly in support of the Farm Credit System. The letter also addressed key issues concerning commodity prices and instability in the agricultural economy. The letter states: As you know, prices of agricultural commodities have increasingly come under pressure. Concerns are growing that we may be entering a prolonged period of instability in the agricultural economy. Credit availability in good times is singularly important to our respective members. Credit availability in tough times may well mean the difference between producers staying on the land or being forced to abandon their operations. The letter continues by stating: It is our belief that the Farm Credit System and commercial banks play critical roles in ensuring that farmers, ranchers and other rural Americans have access to constructive, competitive credit on an ongoing basis. The array of credit products offered by both the Farm Credit System and commercial banks, often in a collaborative, cooperative manner, ensures that agricultural producers and their industry sector partners have access to financial tools that are vital to their success.
Appropriations bills stall
The house and senate fiscal year 2017 appropriations bills have stalled on both the house and senate floors for various reasons. Controversial provisions in a senate appropriations bill, moving ahead of agricultural appropriations, has stalled the senate process. House leaders are pushing process changes that would prohibit amendments on the floor that are either outside the scope of the legislation or raise issues that could stop floor action. These amendments so far have jammed the legislative process in the house. With a limited number of days in session prior to the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2016, Congress is moving closer to requiring a pre-September 30 continuing resolution appropriations package. It is likely the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bills will be wrapped into an omnibus bill after the election.
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Southeastern Peanut Farmer July/August 2016
House Agriculture Committee reviews impact of environmental regulations
As part of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Focus on the Farm Economy series, U.S. Congressman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry, held a hearing to highlight the impacts of environmental regulation and voluntary conservation solutions. This is the fifth hearing in the Focus on the Farm Economy series, where each of the six subcommittees are tasked with examining the growing pressure in rural America from the perspective of the subcommittee. Members heard from two panels of witnesses, including farmers and ranchers who are utilizing voluntary, incentive-based programs to protect and preserve our natural resources, while also maintaining profitable production on their land. “We are once again reminded that locally-led, voluntary conservation practices work. Through assistance and incentive-based programs provided in the farm bill, our nation’s farmers and ranchers are voluntarily reducing soil erosion, increasing wetlands, improving water quality, and preserving farmland and wildlife habitats. However, some government agencies continue to implement over burdensome regulatory requirements, which create financial obstacles for our producers. It is important we continue to support common-sense legislation and voluntary practices that enable farmers and ranchers to continue preserving the health and vitality of our natural resources,” says subcommittee chairman Thompson.
USDA streamlines crop acreage reporting
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that farmers and ranchers filing crop acreage reports with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and participating insurance providers approved by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) now can provide the common information from their acreage reports at one office and the information will be electronically shared with the other location. This new process is part of the USDA Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative. This interagency collaboration also includes participating private crop insurance agents and insurance companies. “If you file your report at one location, the data that’s important to both FSA and RMA will be securely and electronically shared with the other location,” says FSA administrator Val Dolcini. “This will avoid redundant and duplicative reporting, and we expect this to save farmers and ranchers time.”
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Industry awards at USA Peanut Congress
crowd of attendees convened for the USA Peanut Congress held at Charleston Place, Charleston, South Carolina, June 25-29, 2016. The meeting brings all segments of the industry together to receive the latest updates on new products, industry issues, crop updates and more during the conference. During the conference three individuals were recognized with awards for their service in the peanut industry. The American Peanut Shellers Association presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Krysta Harden, vice president of public policy & chief sustainability officer for DuPont. Harden is responsible for leading the company’s public policy and government affairs strategies, as well as its sustainability, philanthropy, product stewardship and global regulatory activities. Prior to this role, Harden served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where she shaped food and agriculture policy, including leading the implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill. The American Peanut Council and Bayer
Crop Science presented Robert C. (Bob) Kemerait with the Peanut Research and Education Award. Kemerait has served as Extension plant pathologist for the University of Georgia since 2000. He has risen through the professorial ranks as a faculty member in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia to his current title of professor of plant pathology. The American Peanut Council also presented their highest honor posthumously to a real pioneer of the industry, Ruth Mason James Moore, by inducting her into the Hall of Fame. Moore served on and chaired many committees of the APC and served many years on the board of directors, even serving as its chairperson, the first woman ever to do so. Her contributions to both the council and the industry at large were numerous and long lasting. After a long and successful career in peanuts spanning almost 40 years, Moore retired from J.R. James Brokerage in 1985. She passed away in 1987. t
Jimmy Dorsett (left), chairman of the American Peanut Shellers Association, presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to Krysta Harden, vice president of public policy and cheif sustainability officer for DuPont.
Alan Ayers (left), director of stakeholder relations/stewardship with Bayer Crop Science, presents the Research and Education Award to Bob Kemerait, University of Georgia plant pathologist.
American Peanut Council Hall of Fame Award to Ruth James Moore. Pictured left to right: Jim Moore, Ruth’s son and broker at J.R. James Brokerage, Inc., Otis Johnson, APC chairman, and Walter Britt, Ruth’s son.
July/August 2016 Southeastern Peanut Farmer
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Southern Peanut Growers Eat Y’all Farm to Table Media Tour
Eat Y’all, a media company Southern Peanut Growers (SPG) sponsors, which is dedicated to showcasing southern food and agriculture and its accompanying lifestyle, hosted a group of nationally known food writers, chefs and television personalities in Mississippi May 18-19, 2016. This hearty serving of Southern food culture included culinary experiences at local restaurants, various aspects of the food distribution network from hyper-local to national, and meetings with farmers and farmer representatives for peanuts, rice, catfish, and dairy. The tour ended at U.S. Foods with a tour and cook-off between attendees using featured ingredients like peanuts and peanut butter. Leslie Wagner, executive director of SPG, was on hand to network with attendees Peanut butter and candied peanuts took center along with Malcolm stage in the dessert Dwayne Ingraham and Broome, executive Rebecca Gordon made for the group. director of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association (MPGA), and B Jones, MPGA board member. Tour attendees received new peanut and peanut butter products from Southern Peanut Growers and SPG will Tour attendees made a Shrimp Pad continue to follow up with Thai with chopped peanuts as an entree for the group. new information.
Upcoming Events
Come see the Southern Peanut Growers at these upcoming events: u Southern Peanut Growers Conference, July 21 – 23, Destin, Florida u Good for You Girls Day Out, September 17, Jacksonville, Florida u Southern Women’s Show, September 29 – October 2, Birmingham, Alabama u Southern Women’s Show, October 20 – 23, Jacksonville, Florida
Marketing arm of
Southern Peanut Growers sponsors National Restaurant Association’s Marketing Executives Group Meeting
Southern Peanut Growers sponsored the spring Marketing Executives Group (MEG) Meeting, a working group of the National Restaurant Association, in Chicago May 18-21, 2016. With about 350 people in attendance, this was the largest MEG meeting SPG has attended. SPG served the Hot Elvis (a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich) and a peanut butter milk shake during a break of the general session of the meeting to rave reviews of the group (several came back for seconds!). Jeanne Bauer, SPG’s foodservice consultant, is in the process of following up with chains about incorporating peanut butter into new menu items.
Southern Peanut Growers and National Peanut Board promote the value of teaching peanuts in the classroom
Southern Peanut Growers and National Peanut Board joined forces to help sponsor and exhibit at the National Agriculture in the Classroom conference, June 21-24, 2016, in Phoenix, Arizona. This gathering of more than 500 teachers and administrators, whose goal is to Leslie Wagner with Southern increase agricultural literacy in Peanut Growers and Cathy grades K-12, is a primary Johnson with National Peanut Board team up to share audience for the new peanut educational materials on educational materials launched peanuts at the National this year by the peanut industry. Agriculture in the Classroom Conference. NPB’s Cathy Johnson and SPG’s Leslie Wagner provided printed copies of Discover the Powerful Peanut, a set of 12 peanut lesson plans for teachers or classroom volunteers to use in the elementary grades. Also, the new online educational peanut game, Operation Peanut Butter, was showcased at the booth using handheld digital tablets.
Southern Peanut Growers
1025 Sugar Pike Way · Canton, Georgia 30115 (770) 751-6615 · FAX (770) 751-6417 email: lpwagner@comcast.net Visit our website at http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com
September 13- 15, 2016 Tifton, Ga. & Surrounding Area
For more information contact: Georgia Peanut Commission P.O. Box 967, Tifton GA 31793 Phone: 229-386-3470 Fax: 229-386-3501 Email: hannah@gapeanuts.com www.georgiapeanuttour.com
Tour Coordinated By:
GEORGIA PEANUT COMMISSION UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA Tifton Campus and Griffin Campus Southwest Research and Education Center Attapulgus Research and Education Center USDA/ARS, NATIONAL PEANUT RESEARCH LAB