Farmers Business Network (FBN) joined as a sponsor of this year’s Southern Peanut Growers Conference.
The company does things a bit differently, says FBN Account Executive Jared Moore.
“The model of how we do business is we want to cut the middle men out that are stacking on the amount of money they are paying for products and take farm chemicals direct from generic manufacturers to the farm so that we can drive their input prices down and return a better investment on those acres to them,” says Moore. “It’s just a different model of business. Every farmer gets the same price whether you’re one acre or 1,000 acres.”
FBN also works with farmers on cotton and rice acres, and they are looking to expand into specialty markets like chickpeas, for example. Moore says they rely on member input and also offer group rate health insurance based as farmers have shared that need. FBN currently serves more than 8,000 farmer members and 27 million acres.
“Farmers take the most overhead and have the least return,” says Moore. “It’s time for that to change.”
We are doing feature posts on all of the content we gathered at the 21st Southern Peanut Growers Conference, but here are links to everything.
A “superfood” is considered to be a nutrient-rich food that is beneficial for health and well-being, so peanuts naturally qualify, and that is something super important for farmers and the industry.
Georgia Republican Congressman Drew Ferguson spoke to the 2019 Southern Peanut Growers Conference. Elected to Congress in 2016, Rep. Ferguson represents the third district of Georgia, southwest of Atlanta, and serves on the House Ways and Means committee.
One way that self-described “culinary goddess” Parker Wallace gets her groove on in the kitchen is with peanuts. 
Jacob Davis is the new guy this year, just starting as executive director for the 
Florida Peanut Producers Association executive director Ken Barton is happy to welcome the conference back to Panama City Beach and says the Florida crop is in mostly good condition right now with good moisture in most growing areas. However, there are many farmers still waiting for disaster assistance after last year’s Hurricane Michael that swept across the panhandle.
In Georgia, government numbers show a decline in peanut acreage this year but Peanut Commission executive director Don Koehler doesn’t see that. He is happy with the current crop condition, however. Overall, he says while a lot could happen before harvest, the crop looks pretty good right now. 
Acreage is down significantly in Mississippi this year, according to Mississippi Peanut Growers Association executive director Malcolm Broome. Where they have been up to as much as 40,000 acres, Broome says changes in base acres in the 2018 farm bill combined with higher supplies and lower prices brought it down to about 25,000 this year.
Jarret Paige is a new breed of intern working for the Georgia Peanut Commission this summer – he’s an engineering student.
Earlier this year, the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™ became known as