SPFF News & Resources

Vantage Southeast sponsored the conference blog at the 2019 Southern Peanut Growers Conference, taking advantage of the opportunity to contribute to the show and check in on how the season is going for their farmer customers. Growers are doing more and more with precision agriculture and data, according to Travis Kelly, vice president of field solutions.

“We’re taking a strong focus at the beginning of the season, just making sure that we’re getting the seed in the ground… right place, right time,” says Kelly. “A lot of the data that comes out of it, people are able to make a lot more decisions as far as moisture and everything that they’re needing to see at time of planting now.”

Kelly says farmers have to be increasingly particular about logging spray applications and planting dates, which he believes is good for farm history and also for making decisions about the future.

Interview with Travis Kelly, Vantage Southeast

Participants in this year’s Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City Beach, Florida, learned more about two specific products from top level sponsor Syngenta.

“Syngenta does a very nice job of continuing to invest R&D dollars into research, bringing new products to the market,” says Lyle Stewart, district sales manager for Syngenta. “Over the past three years we’ve brought two specific products that continue to add a lot of value to growers in the southeast, and that being Miravis for leaf spot and then Elatus for white mold and for leaf spot. Those products continue to offer, as we hear from our customers, tremendous value to their operations.”

Stewart says what sets these apart from the rest of the market is the fact that when the two products are used in conjunction for leaf spot and white mold primarily, they can offer farmers a 28-day fungicide spray schedule. In the past, the common way would be a 14-day schedule or even a 10-day interval between sprays if conditions were wet. The residual offered by Miravis and Elatus allows for 28-day control.

Stewart adds that overall peanut and cotton crops in the southeast region are looking quite good with the exception of some dry areas. He notes many growers in that area are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

Interview with Lyle Stewart, Syngenta

In its second year as a sponsor at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference, FMC shared information about Prevathon and Lucento with growers in attendance. FMC Regional Tech Service Manager Bruce Stripling says the company is excited about getting the first applications of Lucento out this season and visiting with growers about how it will fit into their programs.

“The growers are the reason why we’re here,” says Stripling. “They’re the end user of our products. They’re also the ones that are going to be asked to feed this expanded population that’s coming. Our growers are some of the best in the world. We’re excited to be here.”

He says Lucento is an excellent early and late season leaf spot product, which also fights rust and soil-borne diseases like southern stem rot. He encourages growers to mix in other modes of action to protect the chemistry in order to keep the product around for a long time.

Interview with Bruce Stripling, FMC

BASF shared more information about a new fungicide product with participants at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference.

Technical Service Representative Abraham Fulmer says Revysol is a revolutionary product in a lot of ways.

“This product has the ability to conform and flex and be more plastic, so to speak, to bind to that target site on a molecular basis,” says Fulmer. “So, that’s why it’s able to bind very tightly and by doing so it really increases the level of efficacy. But there’s also a really neat part of it is that when it goes into the leaf, very quickly – within an hour – it creates these reservoirs and these reservoirs will allow it to slowly distribute but consistently up through the leaf providing a very long, residual control.”

The product has received federal registration and there will be three different offerings in row crops and specialty crops, including Provysol for peanuts. Growers saw limited availability in 2019, but BASF plans a larger launch for the 2020 growing season.

Interview with Abraham Fulmer, BASF

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.”

Interview with Jared Moore, Farmers Business Network

Valent USA presented its Valor Award at the Southeast Peanut Growers Conference, recognizing an individual or group that has made significant contributions to the peanut industry.

This year’s recipient is the American Peanut Shellers, an association that is celebrating 100 years of history in 2019.

“They’ve been a partner with so many different groups and they’ve been creative and innovative in bringing new technology so it was really an honor to be able to present this to them as they celebrate their 100 years of service,” says John Altom, Valent Sales Representative.

Altom says Valor continues to be a key product for Valent as it is effective in fighting Palmer amaranth in peanuts. The company has also introduced MycoApply EndoPrime and has plans for a new fungicide to fight white mold.

Interview with John Altom, Valent