Somewhere around 600 peanut farmers, industry friends and their families helped make the 2011 Southern Peanut Growers Conference one of the record books. “We sold out more room nights than we’ve ever had, we had higher registration than we’ve ever had, and I really think we had one of the best conferences we’ve ever had,” said Don Koehler, executive director … Read More
The Peanut Industry Through Jimmy Lee’s Lens
Jimmy Lee has been a fixture at peanut events around the southeast for many moons, as the former host of the Georgia Farm Monitor radio and TV shows, and since his second retirement about four years ago he continues visiting his friends in the peanut industry to do video. Jimmy celebrated 50 years in broadcasting in June, 2005 and was … Read More
Life and Times of the Peanut
A colorful and entertaining childrens’ book about the history of “one of our most beloved yet least understood crops” was included in the registration bags for participants at the 2011 SPGC, not for us to keep but to giveaway. The book is called “The Life and Times of the Peanut” by Charles Micucci. “One of our speakers talked about the … Read More
BASF Proud to Support Peanut Producers
BASF has been a long time supporter of the Southern Peanut Growers Conference and sponsor of the Friday luncheon, but this year the company also stepped up to co-sponsor the Georgia Peanut Achievement Awards when their help for the yield recognition program was needed. “These peanut growers are the best in the country, which makes them the best in the … Read More
Farm Bill Discussion
Pending negotiations for the next Farm Bill dominated the discussion during the last general session at the SPGC on Saturday which focused on Challenges for Agriculture. Congressman Stephen Fincher (R-TN) of the freshman class in the House of Representatives for 2010 would like to see the next Farm Bill delayed until after the 2012 election. “We’ve got to make sure … Read More
Thanks to Blog Sponsors Ag Technologies and Trimble
This is the fourth year that we have brought the Southern Peanut Growers Conference to the world through the SPGC blog, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Ag Technologies and Trimble. I talked with someone new this year – Robbie Tabb of Ag Technologies, pictured here on the far right with the rest of the crew that attended the conference. … Read More
National Peanut Board at SPGC
The National Peanut Board is always a part of the Southern Peanut Growers Conference to keep producers updated on how their dollars are being spent for research and promotion. NPB sponsors the Saturday morning Peanut Profitability Awards breakfast, where chairman George Jeffcoat of Alabama provided information on the latest projects. Later, I caught up with Ryan Lepicier, Vice President of … Read More
Farm Planning and Financing
Farm financial planning is just one of those tasks that many farmers want to put off as long as they can – indefinitely, if possible – but Dr. Marshall Lamb with the National Peanut Research Lab says it’s just as important as farming itself. The major emphasis of his talk was on working with the current volatile price situation for … Read More
New Sponsors for 2011 SPGC
This year’s Southern Peanut Growers Conference had several new supporting sponsors, including AgLeader Technology and DuPont. With the use of precision technology becoming more prevalent among peanut growers, AgLeader’s Russ Morman (left) says being at the conference has been good for two reasons. “Number one, it’s certainly helped to educate us as to where the peanut industry is going and … Read More
Bayer Belt Registered for Peanuts
Bayer Crop Science is a major sponsor of the Southern Peanut Growers Conference each year and a big supporter of the industry, so they were pleased to be offering peanut growers a new insecticide this year. “This year we launched Belt in peanuts,” said John Hand with Bayer. “We’ve had this product labeled in several other crops previously – cotton … Read More