AGRICULTURE Farmers expect bumper crop of peanuts
Peanut farmers expect to produce 4 billion pounds of nuts this year.
SYLVESTER, Ga. (AP) -- After years of drought, a shift to a new farm program and a disastrously wet harvest season last fall, Jerald Carter is working dawn to dusk on his best peanut crop in five years.
"It's been easier to make because we've had adequate rainfall," he said. "We've had to irrigate a lot less. The fuel and electric bills are a lot less. Therefore, the profit margin ought to be a little better."
The Agriculture Department rates the 2003 crop 96 percent fair to excellent in seven of the top producing states: Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.
Even so, farmers are careful not to boast because a lot could happen during the remaining weeks of the harvest. After pulling the crop through a dry summer last year, Georgia growers got hammered with torrential rain at harvest time that drastically reduced yields and quality.
"I feel like I lost half of them," Carter said. "It's hard to get over that, and that's why we need a good crop this year."
Georgia, the top peanut-producing state, supplies about 38 percent of the nation's peanuts.
New opportunities
The elimination of the Depression-era peanut quota system last year has opened new growing areas and created opportunities for farmers who had never cultivated peanuts.
South Carolina has added 9,300 acres since last year, bringing its total to 18,000 acres for harvest; Alabama has added 4,000 for a total of 189,000 acres; and Florida has added 21,000 acres for a total of 107,000 acres.
Farmers have cut back in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia and kept about the same production in North Carolina.
Still, this year's U.S. crop should total nearly 4 billion pounds -- or 600 million more than last year.
With lots of mild, sunny days in south Georgia, growers have about 60 percent of the crop harvested.
Driving through the countryside, there's an earthy smell of freshly dug peanuts, with plants flipped upside down in the fields so sunshine and fresh air can provide initial drying for the pods that manufacturers transform into snack nuts, peanut butter and candy.
After digging, farmers return to the fields with machines that separate the pods from the roots. Then they head to one of the peanut buying points, pulling peanut wagons almost as large as box cars behind their pickups or tractors.
Workers at the buying points weigh, clean, grade and dry the peanuts before shipping them to shelling plants or warehouses.
Looking good
Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission, said some farmers may have their best yields ever.
"Farmers have a tendency to exaggerate things sometimes, but they've had some tough years," Koehler said. "The last five years have been hard with the drought. Farmers haven't made much money. They need a good year."
The peanut pods are inspected for their color. Generally, a lighter profile means peanuts are still immature. A darker profile means the peak harvest period is only days away.
Proper timing can mean 300 to 500 more pounds per acre, and harvesting too late can mean peanuts drop off the roots and never get harvested, said Worth County's Extension coordinator, Thomas Cary.