WINTER
Fall
2015 2013
www.aboutpeanuts.com
www.aboutpeanuts.com
Spruill Calls NCPGA Annual Meeting
for September 10th
Dennis Spruill, President of the North Carolina Peanut Growers Association, has announced the Annual Membership Meeting for Thursday, September 10, 2015 at the Peanut Belt Research Station, near LewistonWoodville, North Carolina. The Annual Meeting is from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00
p.m. to be followed with Lunch. The Peanut Field Tours are from 9:00 a.m.
to 10:50 a.m. Note: The Field Tours precede the annual meeting, and include four research stops, all addressing major concerns of peanut growers.
Spruill, a peanut grower and farm leader from Hertford County, said, “We
invite all peanut growers to attend the Association’s Annual Meeting to be
informed about the activities of the organization conducted in your behalf.
We also invite other members of the peanut industry and allied organizations.”
This will be North Carolina’s 63rd Annual Peanut Field Day. Bob Sutter,
NCPGA and Dell Cotton, PGCMA will cover Legislative Outlook, Marketing
Supply and Demand issues. These will be important as producers make
planting decisions for the coming year. Dan Ward, North Carolina’s representative to the National Peanut Board, will give an update on NPB activities. Patrick Archer, President of the American Peanut Council will also address the meeting.
We are pleased to announce that North Carolina State Senator Buck Newton will be our featured speaker this year. Since being elected to the NC
Legislature, Senator Newton has been a strong supporter of Rural and Agricultural issues in North Carolina.
Peanut Field Day is sponsored jointly by the North Carolina Department of
Agriculture, North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences Agricultural Research Service, and the North Carolina Peanut
Growers Association.
North and South Carolina Fairs
in October - see page 9 for dates!
VOL.63
60No.
No.3 4
VOL.
South Carolina
Annual Peanut
Field Day
Please mark your calendar for the
Annual Peanut Field Day at Edisto
REC on 3 September (always the
first Thursday in Sept.).
We will register starting at 9 am, go
to the field by 10 am sharp, followed
by a catered meal at noon.
Field plots will include:
 New alternatives for thrips/virus
control at planting
 Growth regulator effect by variety
 New harvest technology demonstration
 Weed control
 Variety performance
 Fungicide performance against
leaf spot and white mold
Clemson University
Hires New Peanut Specialist
For those who don’t get the opportunity beforehand, our Field Day
will also be an excellent chance to
meet and hear from our new Peanut Specialist, Dr. Dan Anco.
Dan will be joining us sometime in
August after wrapping up his work
at the University of Florida and
getting his family resettled here.
He has a very strong background in
Plant Pathology which is a big plus
for the future of the S. C. Peanut
Program.
Come and help us welcome Dan to
South Carolina.
PAGE 2
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
Sutter Sez
grams, but in this column I want to
cover what the North Carolina Peanut Growers Association is planning for the coming year.
We will continue to have an ad on
the court side electronic signs during all 19 NC State Wolfpack basketball games at the PNC arena.
This will provide 239,000 impressions in the arena and a guaranteed
23 minutes of televised minutes on
various TV networks such as ESPN,
Fox Sports, and ACC Network.
Robert R. Sutter
Chief Executive Officer
North Carolina
Peanut Growers Association
Well it looks like we are going to
have an abundance of peanuts left
in the warehouse after this marketing/crop year. The carry out into the
2015 marketing year was 931,500
tons. The projected carry out into
2016 is 1,297,500 ton, which is a
39% jump year over year in the ending stocks. That represents 46% of
what is needed for 2016, twice the
amount considered acceptable.
So that being said, what are we doing about it? All of the peanut organizations are ramping up their
promotion efforts. The National
Peanut Board has launched the
“Perfectly Powerful Peanut” campaign with their new ad agency Golin Harris International. They continue to fund peanut allergy research and work with school systems to develop effective strategies
for dealing with food allergies. This
is extremely important for long
term development of peanut consumers.
The American Peanut Council sponsors food safety workshops for processors in an effort to avoid any recalls of peanut containing products.
These recalls have caused drops in
consumption in the past and we do
not need a recall going forward. The
American Peanut Council Export
Committee continues to administer
USDA Market Access Program
funds to increase consumption of
peanuts in Europe, Canada, South
America and Asia.
All of the state peanut organizations have active promotions pro-
NC Peanuts will also be a sponsor
at all home baseball games at UNC
and ECU. At both schools bags of
inshell peanuts will be thrown out
during the 7th inning stretch. An
announcement will be made promoting North Carolina Peanuts and
Video Board postings will display
thru out the game. We will also receive a 30 second radio commercial
during the game. So whether you
are Wolfpack, Tar Heel or Pirate
fan, you will see peanuts being promoted.
This fall NC Peanuts will be a sponsor of the WRAL Web TV News. We
will have a commercial during the
6:00 am, Noon, 6:00 pm and 11:00
pm news on WRAL .com. There is
an average of 88 million page views
per month. Currently there are
422,000 registered users. WRAL is
the number 1 local web site reaching half of all frequent online users.
It provides statewide coverage.
Also this fall, NC Peanuts will have
two billboards on Interstate 95. One
is located 1.1 mile north of exit 176,
facing north. The other is .8 miles
south of exit 90, facing north. These
billboards should give us over
150,000 weekly impressions, which
over the course of 4 months
amounts to 2.4 million views off the
billboard.
So, is there anything you can do to
help sell more peanuts? I’m glad
you asked. Whether you like it or
not, social media is very important
today. Many of you have Facebook
and Twitter accounts. Go to
www.aboutpeanuts.com and like us
on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Marianne Copelan regularly
posts peanut information on the
Virginia-Carolinas Facebook page
and tweets on the Twitter account.
Share and retweet peanut info to all
your friends and fellow Twittter followers. This will spread the word at
no cost. So working together we
should be able to reduce the size of
that big pile of peanuts.
FALL 2015
Joe Sugg
Graduate Student
Competition
2015 Award Winners
“A Great Summer Snack”
1st Place
Claire Klevorn
North Carolina State University
Paper #60
Boiled Peanuts
Raw Inshell Peanuts - Water - Salt
Preparation: Wash and place inshell peanuts in a suitable container to soak (glass, enamel, ceramic,
plastic); cover with medium brine -10 ounces salt to one gallon of water -- use about twice as much water as peanuts. Place a weighted
plate on the peanuts to keep them
submerged. Soak overnight. Remove plate. Add water as needed to
cover the peanuts. Cook by one of
the following methods:
Stove Top
Bring the peanuts to a boil; reduce
heat to simmer and continue to
cook for 4 hours. Test for doneness
to see if texture and saltiness are
suitable. Add to cooking time in 30
minute increments if softer peanuts
are desired. Allow to remain in
brine to increase saltiness. Drain
as soon as desired texture and degree of saltiness is achieved.
Slow Cooker
Cook soaked peanuts on low for 8
hours and then on high for 1½
hours. Test for doneness; increase
cooking time as needed to achieve
desired texture and saltiness.
When cooked, drain and serve hot
as a snack or allow to cool, shell
and use the peanut kernels to add
flavor and zip to salads, casseroles,
and dressing to accompany pork,
poultry and other prepared dishes.
Any peanuts not eaten immediately
may be stored in the refrigerator for
several days.
Variation in O/L Ratio Demonstrated
among High Oleic Spanish type peanuts.
C.M. Klevorn*, K.W. Hendrix, and L.L.
Dean, Market Quality and Handling
Research Unit, USDAARS, Raleigh,
NC; and N.A. Barkley, International
Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru.
2nd Place
Jake Fountain
University of Georgia
Paper #79
Potential Roles of Environmental Oxidative Stress in a Glatoxin Production
Revealed in the Aspergillus Glavus
Transcriptome
J.C. Fountain*, L. Yang, R.C.
Kemerait, University of Georgia, Department of Plant Pathology, Tifton,
GA, 31793; S.N. Nayak, M. Pandey, V.
Kumar, P. Bajaj, A.S. Jayale, A. Chitikineni, R. K. Varshney, International
Crops Research Institute for the SemiArid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru,
India, 502324; R.D. Lee University of
Georgia, Department of Crop and Soil
Sciences, Tifton, GA, 31793; B.T. Scully, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL 34945; and B.
Guo, USDA-ARS, Crop Protection and
Management Research Unit, Tifton, GA
31793.
FALL 2015
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
PAGE 3
South of The Border
But they need your help. It is a big
time commitment to meet regularly,
evaluate projects, and allocate the
budget between production and promotion.
Make your priorities
known by contacting board members and better yet, consider serving on the board.
Jay W. Chapin
Interim Peanut Specialist
Clemson University
It’s Your Money, So Speak Up
By the time you read this in late
August we’ll be only a week away
from our Statewide Peanut Field
Day at Blackville which is always
held on the first Thursday in Sept.
(3 Sept., 9 am this year).
Every South Carolina peanut grower has a substantial investment in
the Clemson University peanut research and education program by
contributing to grower check-offs
through both the S. C. Peanut
Board and National Peanut Board.
Referring to the federal budget deficit, former Senator Bob Dole once
said “a billion here and a billion
there, pretty soon you’re talking
real money!” It’s not a billion or a
million, but with a reported 115,000
acres of peanuts now planted in S.
C., it’s still “real money” – your
money.
There are at least three good opportunities to decide whether your
money is being well spent:
the
Field Day, our statewide Peanut
Grower Meeting at Santee (28 January, 2016), and what you get out of
county / regional production meetings.
In over thirty years association with
the S. C. Peanut Board and our representatives to The National Peanut Board, I can say without exception that both have always provided
whatever funding they possibly
could to research and education programs.
We never really know what we’ll
learn until we weigh the plots at
the end of the season, but a few of
the projects you are investing in are
listed below.
The Field Day will also be a great
opportunity to meet and hear from
our new peanut specialist, Dr.
Dan Anco. Dan has an outstanding background in Plant Pathology
which is a critical need for the continued prosperity of our peanut industry.
Come welcome him to
South Carolina.
New Harvest Technology – More
money is won or lost at digging
than any other production operation. Kendall Kirk will be demonstrating / reporting on his tests
(with James Thomas) developing an
on-the-go adjustable depth digger.
On-farm yield monitors are fundamental to precision agriculture applications for any crop. We need
them badly on peanut combines.
Dr. Kirk will also discuss his progress on a commercially feasible
peanut yield monitor.
Weed Control – The first 6-8
weeks of production are essentially
a “weed war”. The recent confirmation of pigweed resistance to PPO
herbicides (Valor, Blazer, Cobra) in
Arkansas is particularly troubling
for peanut growers. Evaluation of
alternatives is a major component
of Weed specialist Mike Marshall’s
program.
Thrips / Virus Management –
Thimet is very effective at reducing
stunting and yield loss from both
direct thrips feeding and tomato
spotted wilt virus infection. However there are always handling and
application problems with an in-
furrow granular. This project evaluates variety response to imidacloprid (Admire Pro, generics) and imidacloprid + fungicide combinations
Velum Total, others).
Foliar and Soil Diseases – Disease management is a substantial
component of the peanut production
budget, requiring four to six application trips across the field. This
project evaluates performance of
new and alternative fungicides vs.
standards, primarily against late
leaf spot and white mold. The addition of Dr. Anco to lead the S. C.
peanut program is very timely as
we have recently seen evidence of
reduced effectiveness of some chemistry against foliar diseases.
Variety Development and Evaluation – The greatest contribution
to peanut profitability in the southeastern U. S. over the last fifty
years has come from excellent plant
breeding programs, particularly
those in Georgia, North Carolina,
and Florida. With the addition of
Dr. Shyam Tallury’s breeding program at Florence, South Carolina
peanut growers now have a direct
stake in development of locally
adapted varieties. At Blackville,
peanut growers have also supported
an ongoing program to compare performance of standards against newly released varieties and advanced
experimental lines from all of the
major breeding programs. Given
the current market emphasis on
conversion to all high-oleic production, and the fact that current
standards for both runner and virginia types (Georgia 06G and Bailey, respectively) are not high-oleic,
we can expect continued pressure
for change.
Nutrient Supplements – There is
a lot of money spent on supplements and additives to fungicide or
herbicide applications. Every year
there are ads and articles promoting a new peanut product reported
to deliver 1,000 lb plus yield increases. Since you are paying up
front for a comprehensive peanut
management program through
check-offs, you should expect independent field trial results proving
an economic benefit before you
reach for your wallet.
Variety Response to Growth
Regulator – Even with the wide
adoption of guidance systems to
stay on the row at digging, some
growers have continued to use
growth regulator on virginia types
for yield benefits and to speed harvest, particularly on Bailey, our
predominant variety. This project
looks at variety response to rates
and application methods of Apogee
(prohexadione calcium).
Come to the Edisto Peanut Field
Day 3 Sept. and the Statewide
Meeting in January to help your
Peanut Board evaluate what you
are getting for your money.
Jay Chapin
Winner of
Dow AgroSciences
Award-Education
PAGE 4
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
FALL 2015
RESEARCH COMMENTS
Wynne and Sullivan are significant.
The message remains the same, peanut research is of vital importance
to North Carolina Peanut Farmers,
now and in the future.
Robert R. Sutter
Chief Executive Officer
NCPGA
The following is an article I wrote
back in 2013. I have updated the
numbers to reflect recent year’s acreages and yields along with prices.
As budgets at NCSU-CALS are
squeezed in recent years, it has become more difficult to fund all of the
many areas of peanut research.
Consequently, dollars coming from
NC Peanut Growers, National Peanut Board and royalties from new
varieties such as Bailey, Sugg,
At the December Board of the
North Carolina Peanut Growers
Association, researchers from NC
State requested funding for projects
to be completed in 2015. A total of
$129,000 was allocated to six projects. As in years past, the major
emphasis was placed on variety development, in addition to Entomology, Plant Pathology and Crop Science. It was very encouraging to see
how all the researchers have
worked as a team to improve yields
and profitability.
I thought it would be interesting to
look at how research funding has
benefited North Carolina Peanut
farmers. Since 1999, the North Carolina Peanut Growers Association
has sent $1,012,487 to North Carolina State University CALS for pea-
nut research. During that same period the National Peanut Board
funded research projects to the tune
of $1,438,484.
All of this,
$2,450,971, came from North Carolina producers in the form of assessments.
What did the producer get for this
money? We have been funding research at NCSU since 1954, a year
after the association was started. I
am using 1999 as a starting point
because that is about the time that
National Peanut Board money was
added to the pot and increased
work on variety development was
possible.
In 1999, there were 121,208 acres of
peanuts planted in North Carolina.
The average yield that year was
2,414 pounds/acre. In 2002 NC averaged 2,300 pounds/acres on
122,000 acres. That was the last
year of the Federal Peanut Program. By 2005 our acres were down
to 97,000. Because the Price Sup-
port Program was eliminated in
2002, producers only planted acres
sufficient to produce the pounds
contracted in the Spring.
After the elimination of the Peanut
Price Support Program, yield per
acre and quality became very important. In 1999 the support price
for peanuts was $610 per ton. In
2002 without support, the offering
price was $495 per ton. Since that
time, peanut acres in North Carolina have bounced back and forth
between 80,000 and 105,000, and
price has been responsive to supply
from one crop year to the next. For
instance in 2011 acres were down in
North Carolina and the nation and
the quality of the crop in Georgia,
Florida, Alabama as well as Texas
was very poor. There was concern
that there would not be sufficient
supplies to get processors through
to the 2012 harvest. Consequently
acres went way up nationally, and
(continued on page 5)
USA PEANUT CONGRESS AWARD WINNERS
During the USA Peanut Congress in Asheville, N.C., several special awards were presented to key leaders that have served the U.S. peanut industry.
L to R - Dr. Tim Sanders, Mr. George Y. Birdsong, Mr. Howard Valentine, Dr. Tom Stalker, Mr. Alan Ayers, Mr. David Birdsong, Mr. and Mrs. George Y. Birdsong, Mr. Charles Birdsong.
AMERICAN PEANUT COUNCIL
LIFE-TIME ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD
Dr. Tim Sanders, recently retired as
Research Leader of the USDA, ARS,
Market Quality and Handling Research
Unit, and as a Professor of Food Science
at North Carolina State University.
Tim was key to development of food and
flavor quality for peanut varieties, quality and nutrition aspects of peanuts
including flavor chemistry and shelf
life. Tim's most recent research added
to a significant insight into the growing
body of evidence on the cardioprotective effects of peanuts and nut
consumption. Tim retired January 2,
2015 after more than 38 years of service.
PEANUT RESEARCH &
EDUCATION AWARD
Dr. Tom Stalker - Professor of Crop
Science and Biotechnology at North
Carolina State University. Tom graduated from the University of Arizona and
his doctorate from the University of
Illinois in plant genetics. For 38 years,
Tom has a distinguished career at NC
State. He received the Coyt T. Wilson
Distinguished Service Award from
APRES, and the DowElanco Award for
Education and Extension. Tom was instrumental in re-establishing the peanut
germplasm collection. (Plaque and
$1000)
AMERICAN PEANUT COUNCIL
HALL OF FAME AWARD
George Y. Birdsong - CEO and General Counsel of Birdsong Corporation.
George started in 1965 as SecretaryTreasurer at Birdsong Peanuts and become CEO in 1999. George recalled in
the 1960's becoming an attorney for the
company because of "aflatoxin" and how
to control it. George has been involved
in leadership roles with the V-C, South-
west and American Peanut Sheller's
Associations. He has led the American
Peanut Council, helped develop the
Peanut Foundation and the Peanut
Institute. He helped organized efforts
to raise $6 million for the Peanut Genomic Initiative. His service reaches
beyond peanuts to the Suffolk Redevelopment Housing Authority, the Suffolk
Foundation, the United Way, YMCA
and the Suffolk Center for Cultural
Arts. He service has been recognized at
Virginia Wesleyan College, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the
Nansemond River Preservation Alliance and numerous others.
FALL 2015
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
Thomas R. (Dell) Cotton, Jr.,
Manager
PGCMA
It is difficult to know exactly what
to write about in this article for a
number of reasons. Usually the
two topics that determine where
we stand and where we may be
headed are acres planted and crop
conditions.
Let’s start with acres planted. At
this point, even though it is after
certification has been completed,
we don’t have the certified acres
planted for each state so all we
have to go on are the USDA acres
released in late June.
These are depressing
Consider the following:
enough.
US planted acres are projected to
be 18% higher than in 2014.
Since 2003 the highest Georgia
peanut acreage has been 770,000
which happened in 2005. The
Georgia projected acreage is
800,000.
The four Southeast states planted
1,198,000 acres in 2012 which led
to that huge crop which flooded
the market leading to lower producer prices. The four states are
projected to plant 1,230,000 acres
this year.
Since 2003, four years (2007,
2009, 2011, 2013) saw fewer acres
planted nationwide than just the
Southeast is projected to plant
this year.
Two other points need to be made
here: First, you cannot talk about
acres without recognizing the in-
creased yields we have experienced in the last few years from
better varieties. If we have a record or near record US yield on the
number of acres projected to be
planted, then you can almost plan
on taking next year off from peanut production. Secondly, remember I continue to reference projected acres. When certified acres are
actually released, they could be
even higher than the acreage totals I have been using. Again, a
depressing thought.
Yields of course are determined
by crop conditions, and they are a
bit variable at this point. Here in
Virginia we had dry conditions
after planting followed by too
much rain during June and July.
Crop applications are late and
peanuts at this point don’t look as
good as they could. South Carolina as a whole is pretty dry and
hot. Texas has had rain this year
which as a whole puts them in
good shape. The worst ranked of
the three Southeast states as of
today is Georgia and even their
peanuts are rated 74% good or
excellent. Again, if this continues
look out.
A few things have become apparent as we think about where we
are now compared to where we
were before this new Farm Bill
was passed. Those who said rotations were more important to
growers than planting for a government payment were wrong.
Look at the planted acres and you
readily see that. The cotton folks
who said that generic base won’t
be detrimental to peanuts were
wrong. Again, look at the projected acres planted. Finally, those
who write about acres, comparing
the number planted to past years
without recognizing the changes
in yield brought on by new varieties are going to encourage us
planting a hole deep enough to
cause oversupplies like we haven’t
seen in years.
Not a lot to be encouraged about
as we move forward but maybe
brighter days lie ahead.
continued from page 4
to 105,000 in North Carolina, mainly because the contract price offered
was $675. Then in addition to the
increased acres we had the highest
yields on record. So going into 2013,
supplies were high which meant
lower contract price offerings of
$525 per ton.
I know this sounds like a lot of information that may not have anything to do with research, but the
changes over the past decade have
put more pressure on producers to
be more efficient. It has become ab-
Virginia Growers
Elect Fox/Barnes
At its Board meeting held in late
June, the Virginia Peanut Growers
Association re-elected Clarke Fox as
its President for the 2015-16 year.
Clarke and his brother Cliff operate
Foxhill Farms, a diversified row
crop operation in Capron, VA.
Clarke is active in many organizations, including being on the Colonial Farm Credit Board and having
served in the past on the National
Peanut Board as alternate.
Other officers elected were Billy
Bain-Vice President, Stephen AllenTreasurer, and Dell Cotton-Sec./
Asst. Treasurer.
The Virginia Peanut Board reappointed Wayne Barnes to serve as
Chairman for the 2015-16 year.
Wayne, a row crop farmer from
Dinwiddie, VA, has faithfully
served the Peanut Board for many
years.
PAGE 5
solutely necessary to produce peanuts for fewer cents per pound. In
1999 the total per acre variable cost
was $507 per acre. In 2014 it was
$700. So you can see that the only
way to keep pace with increasing
costs was to produce more pounds of
peanuts per acre.
So I return to the earlier question;
what did the peanut producer get
for the money sent to NCSU? The
1999 average yield per acre was
2,414. Fast forward to 2014 and the
average yield was 4,100 pounds per
acre. The state yield winner for
2014 was Smith Brothers of Chowan County. They had a yield of
7,090 pounds per acre on 104.7
acres.
How did we go from 2,414 pounds
per acre in 1999 to 7,090 pounds in
2014? I’m sure there are those at
NC State that would say it is because of the education all these
farmers received at State. There
may be something to that but I am
sure there is agreement on the peanut farm that it is because of the
new varieties that have been developed by Dr. Tom Isleib. We recognize that this success is a result of a
team of researchers. Dr. Jordan, the
peanut specialist, Dr. Shew plant
pathology, Dr. Brandenburg entomology and Dr. Stalker, wild species curator have all played a part
in developing Bailey, Sugg, Wynne
and Sullivan. These new varieties
have excellent disease resistance
and are high yielding. North Carolina Peanut Producers on average
produced 1,780 more pounds per
acre in 2014 than in 1999. At 25
cents per pound that comes to an
additional $445 per acre.
So yes research is important to NC
Peanut Farmers. I would also like
to point out that it is important to
NC State also. Since 1994 royalties
collected on varieties that were developed at NC State totals
$4,824,666. These royalties are paid
by the producer when he buys seed.
So when you add it up, producers
have made a $7 million investment
in research in the past 20 years.
And make no mistake we feel that
we have received a great return on
our investment. I know that North
Carolinas peanut farmers are proud
of NC STATE, CALS and the Peanut Research team.
PAGE 6
Summer
is a State of Mind!
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
to promote Virginia grown peanuts within the stadium, running digital advertisements and web banners on their website.
They will also run advertisements in the
basketball arena to encourage folks to eat
in-shell peanuts while watching the game
this winter.
The South Carolina Peanut Board has
decided to co-promote with the University of South Carolina and Clemson University. We will promote peanuts via
radio interviews, website advertising, and
half-page advertisements within both
football programs. Our packets of peanuts will be placed in many of the suites
throughout both football stadiums.
Marianne Copelan
Executive Director
Virginia-Carolinas Peanut Promotions
We have all seen summers come and go,
but this summer seems to be quite a bit
different in regards to how testy temperatures can truly be. We all have been suffering through this summer heat with the
positive mind-set that rain will come.
There is a famous country song that
many growers have come to know called
“Rain is a good thing” by Luke Bryan.
Many promotions began in the midst of
the summer’s heat to promote peanuts
and peanut butter to consumers. The
three states have come together to increase consumers awareness through
multiple media platforms. All three
states have created billboards that are on
various highways, such as I-95 in North
Carolina, highway 264 in Virginia, and
digital billboards throughout the city of
Columbia, South Carolina. We have
teamed up with the National Peanut
Board to co-promote VC grown peanuts.
Many of the billboards started at the beginning of July and will run until the end
of the year.
As we transition into fall, we continue to
have promotions in the Virginia Carolinas, such as baseball games. The Virginia Peanut Growers Association held
“Peanut Night” at the Richmond Squirrels stadium on Wednesday, August 5,
2015. We collected over 350 pounds of
peanut butter to provide to the Central
Food Banks of Virginia. The North Carolina Peanut Growers held “Peanut
Night” on Friday, August 7, 2015. Many
locals came to the game to support our
peanut growers and donate jars of peanut
butter to give to their local food bank.
This was a great event that many enjoy
by meeting growers and hearing about
peanuts and peanut butter in various ways
throughout the game. I want to personally
thank all of our volunteers who came to
support these two events in Virginia and
North Carolina.
The University of Virginia will continue
FALL 2015
The North Carolina Peanut Growers Association has teamed up with WRAL to
run three 30-second commercials on their
website throughout this fall/winter. We
have asked Lisa Prince to be our spokesperson to encourage consumers to include peanuts and peanut butter in every
meal/snack.
These commercials will
begin in early September and will run
through February.
We are gearing up for the South Carolina
and North Carolina field days that will
take place the first and second week of
September. South Carolina Field Day is
on Thursday, September 3rd; registration
starts at 8 a.m. at Edisto REC in Blackville, SC. The North Carolina Field Day
is on Thursday, September 10th; registration is at 8 a.m. at the LewistonWoodville Research Station. I am excited
to attend, and see growers, at both field
days.
Before we know it, the State Fairs will be
here and this is one of our biggest promotions throughout the year for all three
states. I look forward to being at all three
and speaking to consumers on the health
benefits of peanuts. Many teachers thoroughly enjoy signing up for our teacher
kits. This is a great way to spread the
message on peanuts to consumers in various ways such as: promotional items,
displays, handout brochures, and more.
The first fair that is upon us is the Virginia State Fair.
Peanut Breeding Research
at Clemson University
The planting season went smoothly with several
field tests planted during the first week of May in
Florence. We planted about 1000 plots of early
generation segregating populations for single
plant selections for desirable plant and pod traits
and also for disease resistances. Majority of these
lines trace back to high-oleic parents crossed with
multiple disease resistant interspecific hybrid derived germplasm lines, GP-NC WS 16 and GP-NC
WS 17. So far, we have not seen much of any diseases except some TSWV on the station. The past
6-8 weeks have been extremely hot and dry and
plots are being irrigated weekly. We have also
planted 64 advanced breeding lines for preliminary yield evaluations in a replicated field test to
Shyam Tallury
compare their yield performance with and withPeanut Breeder
out fungicide applications. Additionally, 990 plots
PDREC, Florence
of promising breeding lines were planted in late
leaf spot evaluations without fungicide applications to select resistant lines
for further field testing. These lines were also planted in seed increase plots.
Another replicated test involving 60 of the advanced breeding lines was
planted for drought tolerance studies. As the rest of the crop season progresses, we are hoping to collect data on disease resistances combined with
desirable plant habit to select lines for future testing.
As we move into the fall, I look forward
to more rain, and for our growers to have
a successful harvest season. We have
excellent peanut growers throughout the
Virginia Carolinas and I am proud to say
that I work for them.
Richard Rentz was invited to Blackville by Dr. Mueller to meet Clemson
President Clements Carl Brown from the Cotton Board. We emphasized the
critical role Clemson Agriculture and their research plays in the success of
our farms and the state's economy.
FALL 2015
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
PAGE 7
CO-OP Notes
State Fair
October)
of
Virginia
(Sept./
Richmond Airport display (ongoing)
Virginia Association of Nutritionists
and Dietetics - annual conference
(April)
Peanut Night at the Richmond Flying Squirrels Park (August)
Thomas R. Cotton, Jr.,
Executive Secretary
Virginia Peanut Growers Association
I hope at this time all of your crops
look good and that we are headed
toward another successful crop
year.
At its June meeting, the Virginia
Peanut Growers Association Board
met and reviewed the past year
along with the budget and approved
an increased budget for 2015/16. As
part of the budget discussion the
Executive Secretary broke down the
expenses to make sure the Association is devoting the majority of its
resources to its mission of research,
promotion, and education. If you
divide the expenses between salaries, office rent, utilities, office supplies, etc. and research, promotion,
education, etc. you find that over
half of our budget is devoted to the
latter. This does include many new
promotion projects that we couldn’t
even consider a few years ago when
funds were so tight.
The Board approved a 2015/16
budget of $159,860, or an increase
of 7% over last year’s budget. Besides our usual contribution to VC
Peanut Promotions and other ongoing events (frost advisory, yield contest, etc.), the new budget includes
the following promotional venues
and events to take place or attend
and exhibit at during the next year:
Continue the annual donation of 2
pallets of peanut butter to the Federation of VA Food Banks in honor
of National Peanut Month (March)
Rock & Roll Marathon-Washington,
DC (March)
Stadium and arena signage along
with radio and web advertisement
for University of Virginia football
and basketball games (Sept.-March)
Virginia Food and Beverage Show Richmond (March)
These promotion opportunities will
give us lots of exposure to interact
with folks about the health benefits
and nutritional attributes of peanuts along with sampling our product. In addition, there are always
opportunities that come up that we
didn’t count on.
One of these involved a recent call
from the Governor’s office in Richmond. The Governor was entertaining a large group of ambassadors
and wanted some Virginia commodities present for a reception.
I
talked with the chef and got peanuts to him that he requested. I attended and helped serve peanut
soup shots to the guests along with
having our salted peanut packs
there. This is a good example of an
opportunity that presents itself that
you really can’t plan for.
The National Peanut Board annually does a co-promotion with each
peanut state with funds sent from
the NPB to that state. This year
our three states each developed
signage (with NPB’s help) to be
used for billboards in high traffic
areas. The ones in Virginia displayed during July and August on
three different billboards along
beach traffic routes. I am hoping
these digital designs are well received by visitors as we try to route
folks to the aboutpeanuts.com website for information and shopping.
USDA- APHIS- Wildlife Services
North Carolina Feral Swine Damage Management Program
Feral swine, also known as wild hogs or wild boar, are a non-native invasive
species that cause damage and/ or disease threats to agriculture, property,
livestock, pets, native species, and human health. Since 1982, feral swine
have expanded their range from 17 to 41 states. They are a highly adaptable species, able to survive in a variety of climates and habitats. Feral
swine appear in new areas by escaping commercial and backyard swine facilities, from illegal relocation of feral swine, and through natural expansion.
Feral swine populations have the ability to expand exponentially. Female
feral swine (sows) reach sexual maturity at 6-10 months of age, can have 3-8
piglets per litter, and up to 2 litters per year. An increase in the feral swine
population results in increased damage to the environment (i.e. agriculture,
natural resources, property).
 Feral swine rooting in riparian areas can lead to a decrease in water quality, an increase in soil erosion, and destruction of native plant species.
 Feral swine compete with native wildlife for resources and can negatively
affect threatened and endangered animal and plant species.
 Feral swine consume vegetation, reptiles, invertebrates, and prey on
small mammals like white-tailed deer fawns. Feral swine routinely damage agricultural crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, wheat, and
sorghum.
 In their search for food, feral swine can cause damage to roads, pastures,
farm fields, and residential yards with their destructive behaviors (i.e.
rooting, trampling, and wallowing).
 Feral swine can also carry at least 30 diseases and nearly 40 parasites,
which can be transmitted to people, livestock, pets, and/or wildlife.
 The damage and cost of control for feral swine is approximately $1.5 billion annually in the United States ($800 million in crop losses).
USDA APHIS Wildlife Services is available to provide both direct control
assistance and technical guidance to landowners in North Carolina. For
more information or to report feral swine damage: For more information or
to report feral swine damage: Contact the NC, SC or VA Wildlife Services
Programs can be reached via the national toll free number at: 1-866-4873297.
PAGE 8
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
FALL 2015
Options for In-Season Management of Peanut Diseases
Hillary L. Mehl
Extension Plant Pathologist
Virginia Tech Tidewater AREC
Suffolk, VA
During the 2015 growing season,
weather conditions have at times
been too dry, too wet, or too hot but
overall, the weather has been good
for peanut growth. Unfortunately,
conditions have also been optimal
for peanut diseases such as Sclerotinia blight and southern stem rot.
Though Sclerotinia is typically favored by wet, cool conditions and
stem rot by wet, hot conditions, we
have had a range of weather this
summer, and both diseases are popping up in fields. Management of
soilborne diseases such as Sclerotinia blight, stem rot, and Cylindrocladium black rot (CBR) includes
good crop rotation practices (peanut
planted no more frequently than
every third year) and planting varieties with good resistance or tolerance to these diseases. In-season
control, however, relies on timely
applications of foliar fungicides.
Most peanut foliar fungicides (but
not all, see Table below) provide
good leaf spot control, and management of early and late leaf spot is
the foundation of a fungicide program in peanut. Activity against
other diseases, however, varies, so
the specific chemistries included in
a fungicide program should target
the diseases most likely to impact a
field during a particular growing
season. Sclerotinia blight, stem rot,
and CBR incidence and severity
vary among years and fields, and
fungicide programs should be selected based on the risk and/or
presence of these diseases.
Several factors impact the relative
risk of these diseases becoming a
problem in a particular year and/or
field. As mentioned above, certain
weather conditions favor specific
diseases, and weather-based advisories can be used to predict the
relative risk of leaf spot and Sclerotinia blight developing in the region
(e.g. Virginia Tech’s Peanut-Cotton
Infonet). Even if risk of Sclerotinia
blight is high based on the occurrence of cool, wet weather, a fungicide targeting the disease (e.g.
Omega) is not necessarily needed
immediately. Growth of the plant
(e.g. whether or not vines are
touching) and field history also play
a role in determining disease risk.
Knowing a particular field is valuable since even with good rotation,
“problem fields” where the same
Activity against
Leaf spots (LS) only
Stem rot, leaf spots
Sclerotinia blight,
other
CBR, other
disease occurs every time a peanut
crop is grown do exist. Conversely,
other fields may rarely have severe
disease outbreaks. Scouting before
making a Sclerotinia fungicide application can potentially save money since the disease may not occur
in every field and costly fungicide
applications targeting this disease
may not be needed. Fungicides with
good activity against Sclerotinia
blight are fairly limited, but there
are several fungicides with activity
against Southern stem rot that also
provide good leaf spot control.
Whereas an Omega application for
Sclerotinia control is likely to be in
addition to a leaf spot program,
fungicides with activity against
stem rot can be incorporated into a
leaf spot fungicide program. Options for in-season CBR control are
Active ingredient(s)
tebuconazole +
trifloxystrobin
limited, but incorporation of Provost or Propulse into a leaf spot program can help to suppress this disease.
Note that many products have activity against particular diseases,
but different products may vary in
their effectiveness against specific
pathogens in our region. Old and
new products are tested by university researchers every year so that
performance in years with different
environmental conditions and disease pressure can be evaluated.
Current information on the relative
effectiveness of different products
in Virginia can be found by going to
the Virginia Cooperative Extension
website (www.ext.vt.edu) and
searching for “Applied Research on
Field Crop Disease Control.”
Early
LS
Late LS
Absolute
Bravo, generics
X
X
X
X
Stratego
X
X
Tilt Bravo
X
X
mancozeb
Koverall
X
X
azoxystrobin
flutolanil + propiconazole
Abound
X
X
Artisan
X
fluoxastrobin
Evito
Folicur,
generics
X
pyraclostrobin
fluxapyroxad +
pyraclostrobin
solatenol +
azoxystrobin
Headline
X
X
X
Priaxor
X
X
X
Elatus
X
X
X
penthiopyrad
Fontelis
X
X
X
Fluazinam
fluopyram +
prothioconazole
prothioconazole
+ tebuconazole
Omega
chlorothalonil
propiconazole +
trifloxystrobin
propiconazole +
chlorothalonil
tebuconazole
Product
Stem
rot
Sclerotinia
blight
CBR
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Propulse
X
X
X
Provost
X
X
X
X
X
X
FALL 2015
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
PAGE 9
It’s All About Plant Health
This has been a consistent theme
worldwide including in parts of the
world where insects are much more
of a serious problem than here in
the VC area. Cultivars with good
insect resistance are hard to find.
Rick Brandenburg
Extension Entomology Specialist
North Carolina State University
Last week I was sitting down with
some peanut producers who I have
known for almost 40 years and we
talked about changes in peanut production over that time period. Obviously, there have been many changes. There have been changes in
fungicides, herbicides, insecticides,
and virtually every product that we
apply to peanuts. Equipment has
changed, government programs
have changed, marketing and demand have changed, and perhaps
most importantly the breeding programs have produced a lot of new
varieties that bring along with
them some very desirable characteristics.
New varieties have brought a lot to
the table and its more than just
higher yield potential. Pest resistance has been a big factor and
of course one of our popular current
varieties Bailey is a classic example
of the progress that has been made
over the years. We use these new
more resistant varieties in concert
with improved ability to forecast or
predict pest occurrence and in conjunction with the latest pesticides
(which also happen to be much less
detrimental to off target organism
and the environment). Add it all
together and it really is a much different world we live in for peanut
production and management.
One area where we have not made
much progress is in the area of peanut plant resistance to insect pests.
Many years ago Drs. Johnny
Wynne and Bill Campbell put a lot
of energy into finding resistance to
insect, but other than the creation
of NC-6, little progress was made.
I remember 35 or so years ago the
common occurrence of spider mites
in July and serious problems with
caterpillars that usually required
insecticide applications and the
common practice on a high percentage of our acreage to apply preventive southern corn rootworm treatments. That was back when I was
working on my Ph.D. in Chowan
and surrounding counties. As I look
back from today’s crop to the fields
back then, it is much different.
There are two main areas that I see
as much different and very important.
One is our understanding of the
peanut production system and how
our practices interact and create
environments that either promote
or discourage pest problems. We
certainly became very aware of this
and used it to our advantage with
the management of spider mites.
That knowledge changed the insecticides that we used, we moved on
to the leafspot advisory which reduced fungicide use that promoted
spider mites, learned about the conditions that promote outbreaks and
many other factors. Today, while
spider mites can still be a problem,
they are not nearly as common and
typically it takes a serious drought
before we see many issues with
them.
Our understanding of the factors
that increase the risk of southern
corn rootworm infestations has allowed us to use rootworms insecticides much more precisely and
wisely.
Our understanding of
thresholds and that a few worms
feeding in a field do not justify an
insecticide application have allowed
us to avoid unnecessary insecticide
applications which can also result
in spider mite outbreaks. We get
better at fighting these pests
through good production practices
and that helps keep us in business
in a very competitive agricultural
world.
I am often asked, however, a question that does make a lot of sense.
Since peanuts are worth more today
and since many production and
equipment costs are so high, shouldn’t we be spraying more often to
protect our investment? I think this
is a very good question that deserves a good answer.
Let’s go back a few years and look
at the situation. Not to beat up on
anything from the past, but you
need to compare how the older varieties stacked up against the new
ones. Look at some old photos of the
crop from 30 years ago. Better yet,
let’s look at some of the county yield
champions over the past 5 years
and compare them to 35 years ago.
We don’t need to pull out numbers
from the drought of 1980 to illustrate a remarkable improvement in
our yields and quality over the past
few decades. It is there for us all to
see.
Plant health is so much better than
it was a few decades ago. Healthier
plants can tolerate low levels of pest
infestation and I see this every year
with worm infestations. We don’t
treat nearly as often as we used to
and I think that is appropriate.
Stressed peanut plants are also better hosts for spider mites which increase egg laying and the development of an even larger infestation.
Plant health is the best friend
you’ve got when it comes to pest
management. Yes, we have a lot
more invested, a lot more at stake,
and a lot more to lose with today’s
crop than 35 years ago, but we also
have science and experience working in our favor. Let’s keep that
trend going.
OCTOBER14-25
PAGE 10
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
David Jordan
Extension Peanut Specialist
NC State University
As we move into late August and
September we will be concerned
about keeping vines healthy from
disease and preparing for digging
and harvesting. As of the time of
this article was prepared, heat unit
accumulations were about normal
or are at least not experiencing extremes compared with previous
years. Rainfall has been sporadic.
Some growers have experienced
drought and concerns over crop
development and yield and the array on pests that come along with
drought.
Others have had too
much rain and have had to deal
with flooded soils, loss of some nutrients and problems with yellow
peanuts. By the time this article
comes out most of these issues will
be taken care of, either by changes
in weather patterns of use of practices that minimize stress on the
crop. One question we may have is
how these conditions will impact
yield and quality and how growers
will need to plan for digging and
harvesting. Until about the second
week of September much of this is
guess work but we can start getting a fair idea of crop development
by late August and early September. For most varieties around
2400 heat units is the earliest we
would begin digging. With delays
in crop development by too much or
too little water, that number often
needs to be increased. Currently,
there is no better way of determining when to dig than by making an
initial assessment of fields the
week after Labor Day, and then
plan to make 1 or 2 more assessments of each field so that digging
can be fine-tuned. I know many
growers are larger now than ever
before and having time to check
fields multiple times is challenging
if not impossible. Regardless of
this management decision associated with detail, peanuts can lose
anywhere from 300 to 700 pounds
per acre on the front end by digging too early. Waiting one more
week until optimum maturity can,
for example, make you $85 per acre
($425 per ton at 400 pounds per
acre). That can pay for the combination of your herbicide and insecticide bill or your fungicide bill.
There are risks to waiting but delaying digging until optimum maturity makes money.
Over the past few years we have
looked closely at Bailey and its response to digging date. In 2012
and 2013 this variety kept on picking up yield even as digging was
delayed. This was surprising initially, but when one thinks of the
health of Bailey’s vines due to resistance to disease and the relative
small size of Bailey’s seed, it
stands to reason that this peanut
can remain on the vines quite well
even after the optimum date as
predicted using the profile boards
we often use. In 2015 we had the
normal yield response to Bailey
with increasing yield as digging
was delayed and then a typical decrease as we moved into October.
This reminds us that peanuts can
only stay on so long, and we don’t
need to assume that yields will
keep on increasing well into October every year. In 2015 the maturity profile was very tight. Certainly not reflecting a determinant
peanut (if one exists I don’t know
where it is) but in most cases there
was not a double crop and in many
fields a high percentage of pods
were mature at the same time.
The beauty of this is that if you can
dig on time yield and grades will be
up. The worry is that if there is a
delay, a significant amount of peanuts can shed. Last year most people were able to dig a very mature
crop on time, and that paid off for a
lot of people.
I’ve heard some discussions about
thin shells and concerns over
breakage once they are out of the
field. I don’t know that this is
unique for our varieties or if it just
reflects a high yields and meat content from the 2015 crop. Something has to give when we have
high grades and meat, and that
most likely is shell thickness. With
that said, handling them as gently
as possible will help on this and for
the farmer will lower LSKs.
As you move into harvest, you
might think that relatively wide
differences in planting dates will
have a major difference in when
you can harvest. This does not pan
out very often, at least in our typical range of planting dates. A
three-week difference in planting
date will mean a week or so difference in digging date. If you have a
lot of acres you will need to keep
this in mind. And with Bailey on
so many acres and a pretty good
May for planting on time (most
peanut were planted by May 25 or
sooner,) there will be a lot to take
care of at one time. And, as we
look to the future, there does not
appear to be a big difference in
yield response for Wynne, Sullivan,
Sugg and Bailey when comparing
digging dates.
There will certainly be a tendency
to say “I have to get started sometime to get them all in.” That is
indeed true. Just keep in mind
that if you increase you digging
capacity you can be timelier. Assuming you can gain $85 per acre
by delaying digging until optimum
maturity, some of that money can
go to the expense of an extra person and digger. And, that extra
person and digger can help on the
back end if digging takes place after optimum maturity when we can
get some losses due to pod shed.
Keep in mind that peanut prices
are on the low side right now, so
increasing your timeliness can help
get everything out of crop with little added expense.
To finish up I have provided some
information directly out of our production guide as it relates to digging and harvest.
I hope this
helps. There are also a few images
and graphs that support comments
in this article.
And, try to put September 10 at
Lewiston and September 15 at
FALL 2015
Whiteville on your list for field
days. Hope to see you there!
From 2015 Peanut Information,
Page 37
Although market grade characteristics often remain high when peanuts are dug later in the fall, yield
is often lower due to pod shed. A
balance between digging too soon
and digging before frost or inclement weather needs to be reached to
maximize yield and quality. At harvest, growers should follow the
weather forecast closely and not dig
peanuts when freezing temperatures are expected. It is also important to have adequate harvesting and curing equipment so that
the peanut crop can be handled
within a reasonable period of time.
At least three days, and in many
cases more than three days, are
needed between the time of digging
and frost to allow sufficient drying
to prevent freeze damage. Digging
and harvest capacity for growers
are important to consider.
The speed at which growers can
plant peanuts is not the same as
the time and labor it takes to dig,
combine, dry, and haul peanuts.
Most crops require a one-step process to harvest, while peanuts require two stages. Soil conditions
during digging must be ideal to effectively remove peanuts from the
soil and invert vines. Growers need
to realistically determine the
amount of time these operations
will require. With respect to digging, it is estimated that with fourrow equipment and six-row equipment, 30 and 40 acres can be dug
per day if growers dig for 10 hours
a day driving at 3 mph with no interruptions. A six-row selfpropelled combine can harvest 20
acres in a day driving at 1.5 mph,
while four- and six-row pull-type
combines can harvest 15 to 20
acres in a day, respectively. Weather conditions can have a tremendous impact on the number of
hours peanut can be dug and combined in a given day, and the estimates provided here relative to
time represent a best-case scenario.
(continued on page 11)
FALL 2015
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
PAGE 11
Jordan continued from page 10
PB CHOCOLATE COATED CHERRIES
2 10oz. jars Maraschino cherries with stems
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
24oz. chocolate bark coating
Small paper muffin/candy cups
Drain cherries leaving stems intact. Mix peanut butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until thoroughly
combined. Flatten one tablespoon of peanut butter mixture into a two inch diameter disc. Lay a
cherry on top of the peanut butter disc with the stem pointing up and work it up around the cherry
so that the cherry is completely coated. Place each enrobed cherry on a baking sheet covered
with waxed paper and freeze for about five minutes to chill slightly.
While the cherries chill, melt chocolate according to package directions. Dip cherries one at a time in the melted chocolate and allow the
excess chocolate to drip off. Place in a paper candy cup and allow to cool until chocolate is firm.
PAGE 12
VIRGINIA-CAROLINAS PEANUT NEWS
Tom Isleib
Department of Crop Science
NCSU
This time of year, NCSU’s peanut breeding project personnel are
busy completing our summer program of hybridization in the greenhouse, emasculating or removing
anthers in the late afternoon, pollinating in the morning. We are
making about 100 different cross
combinations this summer. We are
also collecting data in the field for
disease incidence in the studies we
planted for the purpose, growth
habit, plant height and leaflet
measurements for advanced breeding lines, and apparent canopy diseases ratings on plots in replicated
yield tests. All this leads up to harvest in October.
While I am reminded of the impending harvest: Readers, please
use caution in the field. Don’t let
fatigue and familiarity with the
task be your enemies and trip you
up. We lose people and see injuries
almost every year due to accidents
at harvest time. Stay sharp.
Recently we held the annual
meeting of the American Peanut
Research and Education Society
(APRES) in Charleston, SC. Dr.
Tom Stalker of NCSU was President-Elect responsible for organizing the meeting, and it was well
done. APRES meetings are always
interesting besides providing the
opportunity to see people you don’t
get to see much whether they hail
from other U.S. production areas,
other countries or even from your
own institution. Many attendees
come from non-academic branches
of the peanut industry - growers,
shelters, and processors - and it is
always good to hear their perspectives.
The papers and presentations
were as usual thought-provoking.
In the plenary session, Dr. Penny
Kris-Etherton of Penn State Uni-
versity summarized the latest in
nutritional studies using peanuts,
and almost all the news was good.
A lot of progress has been made
with respect to sequencing the peanut genome and bringing modern
molecular tools into use in peanut
improvement. Several people were
recognized with awards including
Howard Valentine, retiring Executive Director of the Peanut Foundation who has been a long-time
friend of peanut research. NCSU’s
young food scientist Claire Klevorn
and molecular biologist Jacob Fountain of Tifton, GA, both of them
from USDA Agricultural Research
Service labs, won prizes in the Joe
Sugg Competition for best paper
given by a graduate student.
There was still quite a bit of
buzz regarding the high oleic seed
oil trait. There is no question that
the trait greatly reduces the onset
of rancidity in peanuts and products made from them. However,
there still are lots of questions
about the effect of the trait on other
characteristics. We have found no
effect of the trait on flavor except
for a slight but beneficial reduction
of the “stale / cardboardy” note. We
did find that high oleic lines closely
related to existing varieties were
capable of producing more aflatoxin
than the varieties when we deliberately made the Aspergillus fungus
grow on seeds. My counterpart in
Oklahoma, USDA-ARS’s Dr. Kelly
Chamberlin, observed that her high
oleic release, Red River Runner,
often emerges slower in the field
than normal oleic varieties even
though it generally performs better
than those varieties in the end.
They do not see this in the Southeastern production region where
soils usually are warm by peanut
planting time. We have not observed slow emergence in the Virginia-Carolina area, but as we are
at the northern extreme of peanut
production and can encounter cool
soils at planting time, so we need to
be on the lookout as the new high
oleic varieties come into wider use.
Finally, and not just at the
APRES meetings, there was talk of
the resurgence of US-, particularly
VC-sourced, Virginia-type in-shell
FALL 2015
peanuts in the European export
market and the Europeans’ complaints about the percentage of
cracked and broken pods in our inshells. When China dominated that
market, their exporters hand-picked
out the cracked and broken pods.
We cannot afford that much hand
labor at US wages. It stands to reason that cracked and broken pods
would register darker under machine vision, but only so much can
be accomplished by machine sorting
on the basis of pod brightness. Currently, the Virginia market is dominated by the Bailey cultivar, and it
is hard to tell if the cracked-andbroken issue is a feature of that variety, if the relatively high maturity
level of the 2014 crop played a role
in pods breaking, or if the Europeans are simply making an issue of it
in order to renegotiate price. We
will continue to apply selection for
the brightest possible pods. If percentage of cracked and broken pods
has to be measured, then we will
collect that data and use it in moving lines through the variety development chain.
Peanut Proud Donates Peanut Butter
North Carolina and Virginia peanut grower organizations received a sizable peanut butter donation for area food
banks. Peanut Proud, headquartered in Blakely, Georgia, is a humanitarian organization representing all segments
of the peanut industry. Established a few years ago to promote and increase peanut consumption, it has grown into
the industry’s vehicle for charitable and emergency donations.
Peanut Proud has a history of being where the need is. When natural disaster strikes or hunger relief is needed, Peanut Proud comes through with needed peanut butter donations. There is no better ambassador for the nutrient
dense, nonperishable peanut butter that is a mainstay of the US Peanut industry.
Beside emergency situation, generous donations have allowed Peanut Proud to help provide assistance to Food
Banks. This July, a total of 20,160 jars of peanut butter were donated to food banks in North Carolina and Virginia.