SPFF News & Resources

For Curry Parker of Headland, Alabama, hard work and sharp eyes are his most important assets when it comes to being an efficient farmer and winner of this year’s Farm Press Peanut Efficiency Award for the lower Southeast region.

“I did it by not being lazy, do whatever the crop needs, and use my eyes to see what’s going on,” Curry said after receiving the award. He also says he does just fine without a computer. “We have the RTK on the tractors, but that’s the only technology I use,” he said.

Get to know Curry in this interview: Interview with Curry Parker, Lower SE Peanut Efficiency Award Winner

Check out both photo albums:

2017 SPGC Family Album

2017 Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

Georgia peanut farmers have one of their own in the Trump administration as Secretary of Agriculture.

Don Koehler with the Georgia Peanut Commission says he got to know Sonny Perdue when he was a farmer. “He actually grew peanuts on his farm,” Don says. “He’s a man with a heart for agriculture.”

As a real farmer who understands peanuts, Perdue will certainly have his input into the making of the next farm bill, but Don says Congress ultimately makes the final decision so Georgia farmers are sending the message that they are happy with the current peanut program.

“Our program’s working right now,” says Don Koehler with the Georgia Peanut Commission. “It gives us stability and gives us the ability to make decisions.”

Don says the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation recently launched the Peanut Program Works website and video to educate people about the program and encourage Congress to keep it when they start drafting a new farm bill. Watch the video below and share.

Interview with Don Koehler, Georgia Peanut Commission

Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

Peanut Program Works from Southern Peanut Farmers Fed. on Vimeo.

Every farm bill gets a little more difficult to pass with an increasingly urban Congress, which is why the peanut industry needs an advocate like Bob Redding in Washington, D.C.

Redding has already been involved in early farm bill preparations, such as the first listening session held recently in Gainesville, Florida. This week he will be at the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on commodities, credit, and crop insurance, where Meredith Rogers of Camilla, Georgia will be providing testimony for the Southern peanut industry.

“Meredith is a double Dawg, she has two degrees from the University of Georgia and has been involved with her family farm for over 20 years, and we are pleased to have her testifying,” said Redding.

In this interview Redding discusses the benefits of the current peanut program and why growers would like to see it kept as is in the new farm bill.
Interview with Bob Redding, peanut lobbyist

Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

The Alabama peanut crop is looking good, according to Alabama Peanut Producers Association Executive Director Caleb Bristow, and farmers are definitely interested in learning more about the navigating the market place for their crop.

“Really it’s a complete 180 from where we were last year,” Bristow said of the market for peanuts this year.

As far as what Alabama farmers would like to see in a new farm bill, Bristow says they are happy with the peanut program as it is. “Obviously the big debate is generic acres and what happens there and we hope cotton fixes that,” he said.

Interview with Caleb Bristow, Alabama Peanut Producers

Malcolm Broome with the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association says farmers in his state would also like to see the peanut program stay as is. “We’re happy with the current 2014, it’s worked pretty good for us,” he said.

And Broome says the peanut crop also looks good in his state, but could be a little drier. “I hate to say we need dry weather but we’ve got some folks trying to spray some peanuts and they’re bogging the spray rigs down,” he added.

Interview with Malcolm Broome, Mississippi Peanut Growers

Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album