SPFF News & Resources

The winners of the 2014 Farm Press Peanut Profitability Awards once again included some amazing farmers who make up the best of the best.

This year’s honorees, pictured here in the front row, are:
Upper Southeast Region — Billy Bain, Dinwiddie, Va.
Southwest Region — Isaac, John and George Guenther, Gaines County, Texas
Lower Southeast Region — Owen Yoder, Orrville, Ala.

Owen just started growing peanuts in 2011 and he gives a lot of credit to the good Lord for his profitability in 2011. “I have to give credit to the timely rains and the good weather as the reasons why we did get the good yields,” he said. “Everything just kinda came together – good yields, good grades and low inputs is what made this happen.”

Owen is more than modest about his success in peanut farming, since profitability is about more than just good weather and good yields. As a diversified farmer, Owen also grows cotton, soybeans, grain sorghum, corn and wheat, and he decided to get into peanuts three years ago for rotation. “Any crop that you can add to your rotation complements another crop,” he said.

Interview with Owen Yoder, Peanut Profitability award winner

2014 SPGC photo album

The first general session at the 2014 Southern Peanut Growers Conference took a long term look at peanut markets and one word was mentioned by all the speakers – China.

George Lovatt with Lovatt and Rushing peanut brokerage company talked numbers, the most important of which for farmers are prices – which are down – and acreage, which is up. “Acreage is up 23% and the question is, is it driven by the new farm bill or is it driven by the market? I hope it’s the market,” he said. Exports are now a third of domestic peanut production and that’s why the Chinese market is so important. “Long term, China will be an enormous player in the world peanut market,” said Lovatt. Interview with George Lovatt, Lovatt & Rushing

Jeff Johnson, president of Birdsong Peanuts, agrees that China presents a great opportunity for the U.S. peanut industry. “China is really emphasizing rice, wheat and corn and putting less emphasis on peanuts,” he said. “So I think you’ll see a slight down trend in production every year and a slight increase in consumption, so it’s a good trend for us.”

There are challenges, however. “The biggest challenge is the 28% duty,” said Johnson. “That adds about $200 a ton to the price which just makes it prohibitive.” He adds that the industry is negotiating with China to make changes in that trade barrier, but he expects that will take some time. Interview with Jeff Johnson, Birdsong Peanuts

2014 SPGC photo album

Every year we get an update from the executive directors of each of the state peanut organizations involved in the Southern Peanut Growers Conference. We already heard from Florida, so here are the rest of the group.

The Alabama Peanut Producers Association is under new management this year, as Randy Griggs retired at the end of last year after leading the group for over 30 years. Jim Cravey, formally with the Alabama Farmers Federation, took over as interim director and has been taking care of business this year as they seek to fill the position on a permanent basis.

The most exciting news out of Alabama is the recent referendum. “The first time ever we’ve had a unanimous vote on anything!” Jim said. He added that the Alabama crop looks good but they think USDA’s latest acreage estimate is a little high.Interview with Jim Cravey, Alabama Peanut Producers

In Georgia, Don Koehler says the crop is like a Clint Eastwood movie – good, bad and ugly – but mostly good and acreage is up. “We were 590,000 acres in Georgia, a little over our normal of 560,000, said Don, adding that’s on the heels of the lowest acreage since 1924 last year.

Biggest issue for Georgia peanut growers is this year’s election for a new U.S. senator to replace agriculture’s very good friend Saxby Chambliss who is retiring. “The reality is we won’t replace Saxby,” Don said. “But whoever we have we hope they will seriously look at an appointment to the ag committee.”Interview with Don Koehler, Georgia Peanut Commission

Finally, Malcolm Broome with the Mississippi Peanut Growers says his producers feeling positive about how they fared in the 2014 Farm Bill, which helped some growers get a peanut base. “We’re a fairly new peanut growing state from that standpoint so the generic base with cotton has enabled some of our growers to have a base,” Malcolm said. “We were a big winner in the farm bill.” He notes that growers do need to make sure they know what needs to be done to set those bases up.

The only issue Malcolm says his growers are really concerned about right now is the proposed EPA Waters of the United States rule, particularly concerning Mississippi Delta area. The crop in Mississippi is looking pretty good despite late planting and Malcolm says they are keeping their fingers crossed it all matures on time. Interview with Malcolm Broome, Mississippi Peanut Growers

2014 SPGC photo album

The recently semi-retired executive director of the Alabama Peanut Producers was surprised to be honored with the annual Valent Valor Award at the kick off of the 16th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City Beach.

“I like to know what’s going on and all the details and this is something I sort of missed,” said Randy after receiving the award from John Altom of Valent. “I’m touched and I’m humbled.”

Randy retired from the Alabama peanut growers group in December but he agreed to remain involved with the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation at least through this meeting. Announcing the award to his friend and colleague, Don Koehler of the Georgia Peanut Commission noted that the conference was Randy’s idea back in the late 1990s, but Randy says it is totally a group effort. “Something like this is team work, it’s not one person,” he said. “We couldn’t have done it without the producers and the industry to make this conference what it is.”

Interview with Randy Griggs, Alabama Peanut Producers retired exec – Valor Award Winner (MP3)

2014 SPGC photo album

The sun is shining and Panama City Beach is beautiful as peanut growers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi are arriving today for the 16th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference.

A record number of attendees are expected at this conference that just keeps getting better every year.

Florida Peanut Growers Association executive director Ken Barton says it’s a pleasure to host this conference in the Sunshine State. “We want to welcome farmers and agribusiness here to Florida again,” Ken says. “Folks love to come to the beach and they thoroughly enjoy coming to our conference to hear the information and the programs we have planned for them.”

Ken says PCB is really a pretty central location for the four states involved. “Pretty much in the middle of the production area, a great location and not a tremendous burden to travel for farmers.”

The Florida peanut crop is looking pretty good right now, according to Ken. “We were a little late planting but the crop has recovered from that really well, we’re on schedule,” he said, noting that they are getting good rains throughout the state’s peanut producing area.

Listen to my interview with Ken here: Interview with Ken Barton, Florida Peanut Producers Association (MP3)

The photo album is already started and will be growing quickly so check back often.