According to the peanut farmers I’ve spoken with here at the conference, their local county extension agent is a very important resource for them. The Georgia Peanut Commission made sure that some of them could be here. One of the ones I met was Rusty Harris, Wirth Co., GA. He was participating in the Georgia Peanut Achievement Team meeting yesterday. … Read More
Enclosure Approved For Devgen
A new sponsor at the conference this year is Devgen, makers of Enclosure, a new nematicide. Here with us is Jim Cartwright and Deborah Meier. They told me it has a dual activity that also controls some other pathogens. By reducing the nematode population it will increase yield. University research has been done of course and more is going on … Read More
Syngenta Wants You To Get Your Peanut Rx
What’s new with Syngenta? That’s what I asked one of our major sponsors today. Representing Syngenta is Lyle Stewart. Lyle says they have a full portfolio of products for the peanut producer and points them to Peanut Rx which is a program they support that can be found at most peanut state land grant universities. He says it will provide … Read More
Taking Care of Feral Pigs
A serious problem for growers is what to do about feral pigs. One of our presenters is working on a project to make that problem go away. Steve Ditchkoff, Auburn University, is several years into a project to create the first species specific contraceptive that can be administered orally. He says there are no effective options at this point since … Read More
Protect The Crop At Mid Season
We are not going hungry here at the conference thanks to our sponsors. Lunch today was sponsored by BASF and representing them is William Reed. He would like to remind growers about using Headline fungicide as we hit the midterm for the crop for its plant protection qualities. He says peanuts was the first market for the product. He points … Read More
Using Peanuts To Feed The Hungry
A very interesting session this morning was titled, “An Industry That Feeds The World.” On the stage were Jeff Johnson, Birdsong Peanut Company, Stephanie Grunenfelder, American Peanut Council and Sally Wells, Birdsong Peanut Company. I spoke to Jeff and Stephanie afterward. Jeff spoke about Plumpy Nut, a peanut butter based product that has been called “miraculous” as a cure for … Read More
Peanut Farmer Perspective
It’s always good to hear from our presenters and sponsors but what about our growers? Let’s find out what a peanut farmer thinks about the conference. I spoke with Steve “Beaver” Yoder, Altha, FL. Steve brings his family as many peanut farmers do. They look forward to it as a “tradition” and it shows his children what he does and … Read More
Mississippi Peanut Growers Association
One of the newest peanut groups to participate in the conference is Mississippi Peanut Growers Association. Their president is Joe Morgan, M&M Farms. He says they have just hired a part time executive director. Joe says growers felt there was a real need to create an organization to represent them and help promote Mississippi peanuts. He says things are going … Read More
Changing The Culture Of Peanut Marketing
Today’s conference agenda includes several different sessions with multiple presenters per session. I’m interviewing several of them and will get started with our first session. Talking to attendees about marketing from the point of view of the manufacturer was Ben Smith, Lance, Inc. He spoke about “changing our culture on how we have marketed that product in past years.” That … Read More
Bayer CropScience Remains Committed To Industry
Our sponsor for the opening dinner was Bayer CropScience, represented by John Hand. He welcomed us before the evening’s entertainment got started. During a break today I spoke with John to learn what’s new with Bayer CropScience. He started out by saying how important the conference is to the company and that they are committed to creating new technologies for … Read More