Major advancements have been made in peanut yields over the last decade, but growers must continue to seek ways to more economically and efficiently increase yields in order to remain competitive. To help with that goal, the University of Georgia Peanut Team conducts many research trials across the state’s peanut belt, including work on real farms, university research farms, and at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Darrell Williams Research Farm at Moultrie, Georgia.

Farmers can learn more by visiting the Sunbelt Ag Expo for its annual Field Day on July 24 for a sneak peek at the research it is carrying out on behalf of University of Georgia researchers and others across the Southeast.

At the Expo farm, the UGA Peanut Team generally has trials to determine yield response and economic return for select tillage treatments, biological    inoculant products, foliar fertilizers and plant growth stimulants, says Scott Monfort, UGA Extension peanut      agronomist. More specifically, he conducted trials last season at the Expo to compare reduced tillage treatments, using single shank and twin shank rippers, to more common conventional tillage treatments, such as deep turning and harrowing. He used no cover crops in the trials.

“Yield in conventional tillage tended to be higher in most of the trials conducted in 2017,” he says. “However, yields in the Expo tillage trial were found to be similar across all tillage treatments.”

Additional research by Monfort at Sunbelt Expo “will assess the impact of cover crops in reduced tillage systems compared to conventional tillage. Treatments being assessed are intensive broadcast tillage (bottom plow), and two reduced tillage programs consisting of a single ripper shank, with and without a cover crop.”

“The Sunbelt Expo’s Darrell Williams Research Farm and research field day provides a great platform to showcase the research efforts of the UGA Peanut Team in answering grower concerns questions related to new products and changes in Extension       recommendations,” Monfort says.

The field day kicks off at 7:15 a.m. in the RW Griffin Building with a biscuit breakfast. Trams depart for the fields at 8:00 a.m. and return before noon for lunch and door prize drawings.

The Sunbelt Ag Expo is located southeast of Moultrie, Georgia, on Georgia Highway 133. For additional information, visit sunbeltexpo.com.

UGA Extension peanut entomologist Mark Abney does a demonstration on insect scouting.

Two insect scouting schools, hosted by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in June, will introduce new scouts to insect monitoring and serve as a review for experienced scouts and farmers.

One of the scouting schools will be held on Monday, June 11, at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. The second school will be held on Tuesday, June 19, at the Southeast Georgia Research and Education Center in Midville, Georgia. Both events will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

This year’s scouting schools will cover insect pests in row crops like cotton, peanuts and soybeans. Attendees will learn identifying information about pests and the damage they inflict on crops, natural enemies, different scouting procedures, and safety in the field. The schools will conclude with an in-field review.

“Scouting remains our best defense against insect pests. If our growers can recognize certain insects and the damage they cause, they’ll be better prepared to make the appropriate treatments before it’s too late,” said Phillip Roberts, UGA Extension entomologist. “Scouting schools serve as great sources of this type of information for our growers.”

The event is free. For more information about the scouting school in Tifton, contact Debbie Rutland at 229-386-3424. For more information about the scouting school in Midville, contact Peyton Sapp at 706-554-2119.

Now is the peak time to plant peanuts in Georgia, according to Cristiane Pilon, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension peanut physiologist.

During a research trial on the UGA Tifton campus in 2017, Pilon planted peanuts at three different times: mid-April, mid-May and early June. She discovered that the seedling vigor in the peanuts planted in May was the strongest.

“By choosing these dates, we were able to see how the soil temperature affected the early-season physiology of the most-planted cultivars, such as Georgia-06G,” said Pilon, who plans to conduct the research trial again this year and in 2019.

Seed vigor is the ability of the cultivar to rapidly develop its first true leaves and root system under suboptimal environmental conditions.

According to Pilon, soil temperature is the pivotal factor in deciding when to plant peanuts.

If peanuts are planted too early, the seedling emergence and vigor tend to be lower due to cooler temperatures in April, which may impair yields. If peanuts are planted too late, growers may see early seedling emergence due to higher temperatures in early to-mid June, but lower yields have been observed.

“The temperature must be higher than 68 degrees Fahrenheit over a three-day period,” Pilon said. “To start germination, peanut seeds need good soil temperatures, water and oxygen. If there are no potentially adverse weather conditions, then farmers are good to plant.

“You have to make sure your plants are healthy and vigorous throughout the process for a successful production. The faster the plant grows, the more vigorous it is,” she said.

Pilon wants to understand the relationship between time to emergence and other physiological processes for peanuts. She hopes her research will help farmers make more precise planting decisions.

“I read research on other row crops, and the development of first leaves is so important because that’s when the plant becomes photosynthetically active, greatly contributing to growth,” Pilon said. “We conduct research to identify the underlying physiological mechanisms promoting seedling vigor in order to help farmers make viable planting decisions. By planting in May, or when the weather conditions are just right, they will have a better product.”

For more information regarding peanut research, visit www.caes.uga.edu/extension-outreach/commodities/peanuts.html.

By Julie Jernigan, University of Georgia

Premium Peanut representatives cut the ribbon during the open house for hte new oil mill in Douglas, Ga., on April 30, 2018.

Premium Peanut in Douglas, Georgia, hosted an open house for their new peanut oil mill on April 30, 2018. The facility is located adjacent to the already up and running shelling plant. This new operation has the capacity to produce more than 3 million gallons of peanut oil per year. The event brought in more than 250 guests from the local  community, state and Southeast.

“We are proud of what we’ve been able to do,” says Karl Zimmer, president and CEO of Premium Peanut.

He went on to express his thanks and gratitude to the growers and shareholders stating how Premium Peanut would not have been able to do it without them.
“We are committed to them every day,” Zimmer says. “To create more value for the product that their harvesting.”

Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development Pat Wilson and Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture Gary Black along with U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Georgia, also spoke during the open house where they each recognized the importance of agriculture to the state and country.

“This is an exciting event in the history of our young company,” says Lee Taylor, vice president of Premium Peanut. “We are working through the normal startup processes and will ramp up production at a steady pace.”

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, open house attendees were able to tour the shelling plant and oil mill. The oil mill is able to process 12,000 gallons of oil a day on three presses. The new oil mill started up on March 1, 2018, right as Premium Peanut planned and has already started shipping oil to their buyers.

By Whitney Brannen

Farmers may have more success growing peanuts if they don’t continuously plant peanuts in the same field, according to Scott Tubbs, University of Georgia Tifton campus’s research cropping system agronomist for peanuts.

Tubbs has studied the impact of peanut rotation since 2008. Instead of growing peanuts in a field for consecutive years, called “continuous peanut rotation,” he believes that Georgia growers should plant a rotation of crops in each field, allowing time to avoid the buildup of diseases, nematodes and other pest problems.

In research conducted at UGA-Tifton, Tubbs recorded a decrease in yields by as much as 2,000 pounds per acre during continuous peanut rotation. In this specific trial, the decline in yields was caused by the buildup of root-knot nematodes.

The peanut root-knot nematode affects the roots of peanut plants, where the nematodes lay eggs. This causes the plant to swell and results in yield loss. If peanuts are rotated with another row crop like cotton or corn, instances of root-knot nematode decline and peanut yields increase. The longer the crop rotations are sustained, the more effective the peanut crop will be.

“Our numbers for peanut root-knot nematode decreased when going from a one-year (or continuous) rotation to a two-year rotation, where we put one crop in between peanut crops,” Tubbs said. “We reduced the number of peanut root-knot nematodes by half. If you take it out to a three-year rotation, where you grow two crops in between peanut crops, we actually reduced peanut root-knot nematodes by 90 percent.”

A four-year rotation by Tubbs, where three crops were planted between peanuts crops and peanuts were grown once every four years, reduced peanut root-knot nematodes by 97 to 99 percent.

“Rotating other crops with peanuts prevents peanut root-knot nematodes simply because it alternates the host,” Tubbs said.

Georgia peanut farmers are planning their 2018 crop now. The planting window ranges from late April to late May.

There have been extreme fluctuations in peanut acreage in recent years, from a 90-year low of 430,000 acres in 2013 to last year’s 840,000 acres, a 25-year high, according to the “UGA Peanut Production Quick Reference Guide.”

“Acreage has been more consistent in the last three years, but consistently high,” Tubbs said. “This has put a strain on maintaining recommended crop rotations for peanuts.”

For more information on crop rotation, visit the UGA Extension publications website at extension.uga.edu/publications.html.

By Julie Jernigan, University of Georgia