The final seminar of the tour brought attendees to Service Brewing in Savannah, Georgia, where agriculture, technology and industry came together for a day of learning and conversation.

Attendees heard from industry representatives across several areas of the peanut industry. Brian Martinez and Carter West with John Deere shared insight into emerging technologies and innovations that are helping shape the future of peanut production.

Courtney Dorsett with Premium Peanut and the American Peanut Shellers Association gave attendees a look inside the shelling process and discussed the ways shellers work to maintain quality throughout the journey from seed to consumer.

The conversation continued with Nick Lightfoot of WECO, who discussed moisture monitoring and how technology can help improve drying consistency and efficiency. Brian Wood with Georgia Plant Food introduced the Georgia Plant Food Educational Society, sharing more about its mission and the important role fertilizer plays in agriculture.

The day also offered a unique look beyond agriculture, as the owner of Service Brewing shared the history of the building and the story behind how the brewery came to be.

From new technology in the field to quality control in the shelling plant, the final seminar highlighted the many people, technologies and industries working together to move Georgia agriculture forward.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album

Since 1945, Georgia’s ports have served as magnets for international trade and investment, enriching the state’s economy to benefit all Georgians. The Georgia Ports Authority is dedicated to providing customers with the most efficient, productive port facilities in the nation, and to creating jobs and business opportunities to benefit more than 11 million Georgians.

The GPA is committed to maintaining its competitive edge through development of leading-edge technology, marketing and operations to move cargo faster. Georgia Ports is focused on what must be done today to sustain growth, performance and security for tomorrow.

Georgia’s deepwater ports in Savannah and Brunswick, together with inland terminals in Murray County, Hall County and Bainbridge are Georgia’s gateways to the world. They are the critical conduits through which raw materials and finished products flow to and from destinations around the globe.

As a state authority, a thirteen-member Board of Directors governs the activities of the GPA. The Board is appointed by the governor, from the state at large, to serve four-year, staggered terms. A President/CEO, an experienced international transportation professional, implements policy directives, administrative duties and managerial controls.

As one of the state’s largest public employers, the GPA directly employs almost 1,800 trained logistics professionals. The GPA, however, is responsible for generating far more employment throughout the state. GPA operations, together with private sector, port-related operations, account for more than 605,000 jobs throughout the state annually and contribute $44 billion in income, $181 billion in revenue and $6 billion in state and local taxes to Georgia’s economy.

The Port of Savannah, home to the largest single-terminal container facility of its kind in North America, is comprised of two modern, deepwater terminals: Garden City Terminal and Ocean Terminal. Together, these facilities exemplify the GPA’s exacting standards of efficiency and productivity. The Port of Savannah sees is one of the best-connected ports in the U.S. to world markets with 40 ship calls a week, 42 doublestack trains per week and 16,000 truck gate moves daily.

Georgia Ports Authority Fact Sheet

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album

Today’s stop in Bulloch County at Sikes Farms gave attendees a close-up look at peanut harvest in action as a combine worked its way through the field, picking up rows and separating the peanuts from the vines. As the peanuts are lifted into the combine, the pods are separated from the plant and collected in the machine’s hopper, while the vines are left behind in the field. It’s a process that requires careful timing, specialized equipment and experience to efficiently bring the crop from the field to the next stage of production.

The harvest also provided an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the Sikes family and their farming operation. Greg Sikes has been farming for 27 years and now farms alongside his son, Landon. Together, they grow peanuts, cotton, corn and wheat.

Farming runs deep in Greg’s family. Although his parents did not farm, both his grandfather and great-grandfather were farmers. Greg chose to revive the family farm, following in their footsteps and building an operation of his own. His connection to the peanut industry extends beyond his farm as well. Greg recently served as president of the National Peanut Buying Points Association and is also part owner of Candler Peanut.

With approximately 26,400 acres of peanuts harvested and an average yield of 3,998 pounds per acre according to the latest USDA county-level data, Bulloch County is an important part of Georgia’s peanut industry. Seeing harvest firsthand at Sikes Farms gave tour attendees a closer look at not only the scale of peanut production in the county, but also the people, families and generations of farming experience behind the crop.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

On the second day of the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour, attendees got an up-close look at one of the first major steps of peanut harvest: digging. After spending approximately 120 to 150 days developing beneath the soil, peanuts reach the point where they are ready to be lifted from the ground. A digger travels through the field, carefully loosening the plants, shaking away excess soil and turning them back onto the ground with the peanuts exposed to the sun. The plants are then allowed to cure and dry in the field for several days before the combine returns to harvest the peanuts.

The Dixons grow peanuts, corn, cotton, and cows. Alongside their variety of crops, they also own a peanut buying point as well as a cotton gin. Three generations continue to ensure this operation continues to push forward for years to come.

Featured on this stop as well is the new Amadas Bulldog Digger.  Amadas stated that a lot of the testing work for the new digger was done right here on the Dixon Farm.

Peanuts are a major part of Burke County’s agricultural landscape. The most recent USDA county production figures available show that Burke County harvested approximately 16,900 acres of peanuts, producing 77.5 million pounds with an average yield of 4,586 pounds per acre. Local UGA Extension data also reported that Burke County growers planted approximately 19,436 acres of peanuts in 2023, an increase of about 8% from the previous year.

For Burke County growers, knowing when to dig is especially important. UGA Extension emphasizes that harvesting peanuts at the right stage of maturity can have a significant impact on both yield and grade. In fact, research cited by UGA found that digging as much as three weeks too early can reduce yield potential by as much as 30%.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

A stop at Sylvania Peanut Company gave attendees an inside look at what happens to Georgia peanuts once they leave the field. The group was able to see firsthand how a buying point fits into the peanut industry and the many steps that take place before peanuts continue on to their next destination.

At Sylvania Peanut Company, freshly harvested peanuts arrive from farms and begin their journey through the buying point. From receiving and drying the crop to sampling and grading each load, every step plays a role in determining the quality and condition of the peanuts. Attendees got to see how these processes work together to prepare the crop for storage and, ultimately, shipment to a shelling facility.

The visit highlighted just how much happens between the moment peanuts are harvested and the time they reach the next stage of processing—and the important role buying points play in keeping Georgia’s peanut industry moving.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

University of Georgia extension specialist and plant pathologist Bob Kemerait works with diseases and nematodes affecting peanut crops. During the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour visit to the Southeast Georgia Research and Education Center in Midville, Kemerait discussed the disease challenges Georgia peanut growers face and the importance of protecting the crop’s yield potential.

“When we bring people on this Georgia Peanut Tour, they seem to see some of the best of the best peanuts grown anywhere in the world,” Kemerait says. “And it’s easy when you see the peanuts growing, it’s easy to underestimate just how hard our growers have to work to make them look as good as they do.”

Georgia’s hot, humid weather creates ideal conditions for fungal diseases, including leaf spot and white mold. Growers also have to manage tomato spotted wilt virus. Kemerait says growers must invest in the right varieties, crop rotation and fungicides to protect their crop throughout the growing season.

“Right now, our peanut crop has the opportunity to make 6,000 pounds per acre or more with the good varieties we have,” Kemerait says. “But if you do not manage disease, it could take it down to 4,000, 3,000, 2,000 pounds per acre.” Effective disease management is critical to protecting the yield potential of Georgia’s peanut crop.

Kemerait also highlighted the importance of the Southeast Georgia Research and Education Center at Midville, where researchers from multiple disciplines work together to address challenges facing growers. Plant pathologists, entomologists, weed scientists, agronomists and agricultural engineers conduct research at the station to develop solutions for crop production in southeast Georgia.

“The most important thing about this station is whether you are an entomologist, a weed scientist, an agronomist, an agricultural engineer, a plant pathologist, we all do research here with Anthony Black and his team to try and find solutions to what the growers face in this area,” Kemerait says. “It’s a jewel we have hidden here.”

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

During the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour, Scott Mumford, University of Georgia Extension peanut agronomist, provided an update on the peanut crop and some of the challenges growers have faced throughout the season.

According to Mumford, the 2026 crop is about 110 to 120 days into the growing season and has experienced both favorable and challenging conditions.

“We have had a lot of good things that happen for most of the growers in the state, but we also have had some bad things happen,” Mumford says. “It’s kind of an average year for us. We’ve struggled from planting all the way to now, and a large part of that struggle has been the weather.”

One of the biggest challenges this season has been sporadic rainfall. While irrigation has helped growers manage conditions in some areas, Mumford says irrigation alone cannot fully meet the crop’s needs. As a result, dryland fields across the state have responded differently depending on the rainfall they have received.

“You’re going to see some dryland crops that don’t look too good, and then we’re also going to see some that do,” Mumford says. “It’s not been a great season, but it’s been a good average season for us. Been a little bit better than the last two seasons has been for us.”

Growers have also had to manage diseases, insects and other production challenges throughout the season. Despite those issues, Mumford says growers have stayed on top of their management practices, helping the crop maintain its yield and quality potential.

“We are fighting diseases. We’re fighting insects, as well as some other issues, like I mentioned,” Mumford says. “But for the most part, our growers have stayed on top of those. And at this point, we think we’re going to have a pretty good crop yield-wise, but also quality-wise, and hopefully you’ll get to see that on this tour.”

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Mark Abney, peanut entomologist at the University of Georgia, provided an overview of his work during the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour. He receives the question many times from people asking, what does the peanut entomologist at the University of Georgia do?

According to Abney, his research and extension responsibilities center on helping growers manage insects in ways that protect their crop and improve profitability.

“We’re really interested in now is continuing to work on lesser cornstalk borer,” Abney says. “That’s an insect that affects all of our growers wherever they are in the state.”

Abney conducts research across Georgia because peanut production occurs in a variety of environments throughout the state. Research is conducted at locations including Tifton, Plains and Midville to better understand what growers in different areas need to do to manage insects most effectively.

“When you look across the state, you’ll see that there’s a lot of different environment,” Abney says. “We grow peanuts in different kind of places. It’s really important that we do research all over the state.”

That is where Abney sees his role as the peanut entomologist in helping growers. His research focuses on the insects that occur in peanuts, developing thresholds and evaluating insecticides and other management tools to determine what works best and what is most economical for growers.

The goal is to help farmers reduce the risk of insect injury, protect yield and make profitable decisions about when and how to manage pests.

Every year is different in terms of insect and disease pressure and 2026 is no different. The production year started out cool and with thrips pressure and tomato spotted wilt virus. Later in the season, farmers dealt with foliage-feeding caterpillars, including velvetbean caterpillars, which came into some areas during the last few weeks of the growing season.

According to Abney, the 2026 peanut season has been an average year in terms of insect pressure. Conditions have varied across the state, with some areas experiencing more foliage-feeding caterpillars while other areas have experienced less pressure.

Overall, Abney says growers have been able to manage insects pests effectively.

Abney’s research and extension program ultimately focuses on providing growers with the information they need to make effective pest-management decisions.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Nino Brown, University of Georgia peanut breeder provided an update on the university’s peanut breeding program during the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour. Brown develops new peanut varieties for growers in Georgia as well as surrounding states, with a focus on developing varieties that meet the needs of growers and others throughout the peanut industry.

“Our primary customer is the grower, and that’s who we really strive to serve first and foremost,” Brown says. The breeding program focuses on improving yield, grade, disease resistance and agronomic characteristics, while also addressing traits such as nutrition, flavor and composition. Brown says the goal is to develop varieties that serve the needs of growers, shellers, manufacturers and consumers.

Because peanuts are grown across many different environments in Georgia, Brown says the varieties developed by the breeding program need to perform well throughout the state. That makes stability an important consideration in the breeding process. Brown defines stability as a variety’s ability to perform at a high level across many different environments. Researchers test new varieties at as many locations as possible to identify lines that can consistently perform well under different growing conditions.

The University of Georgia’s research and education centers provide a network of locations across the peanut-growing region for those trials. Brown says the breeding program has trials in Attapulgus, Camilla at the Stripling Irrigation Park, Plains, Tifton, Chula and Midville. Testing varieties across these locations allows researchers to evaluate how they perform under a range of environmental and growing conditions.

Midville is a particularly important testing location for the breeding program. Brown describes it as a unique environment for Georgia and one of the program’s largest yield trial locations. A major focus is ensuring that varieties developed in Tifton can also perform at a high level in Midville and other areas of eastern Georgia.

Developing varieties with those traits requires significant effort and financial investment, making support for the breeding program an important part of the process. “It takes a lot of effort, a lot of money to be able to achieve those things, and so we’re really grateful for the support from the Georgia Peanut Commission to achieve those goals that we’re trying to accomplish,” Brown says.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album

Attendees had the opportunity to learn about research at Midville on a variety of topics, including the wild peanut lab, peanut breeding, pod blasting and the maturity board. University of Georgia peanut breeder Nino Brown spoke with attendees about the research being conducted at Midville and its importance to peanut production.

The wild peanut lab gave attendees an opportunity to learn about the role of wild peanut species in peanut research. Wild peanuts can provide researchers with genetic traits that may be useful in developing new peanut varieties and improving characteristics of cultivated peanuts.

The peanut breeding program focuses on developing new varieties that meet the needs of growers and the peanut industry. Brown discussed how researchers evaluate traits such as yield, grade, disease resistance and agronomic characteristics. New varieties are tested at multiple research locations across Georgia, including Midville, to evaluate how they perform in different growing environments.

Pod blasting allows researchers to examine peanut pods and kernels to better understand their development. By removing the outer layer of the pod, researchers can observe the kernels and use that information when evaluating peanut maturity.

The maturity board is used to help determine the maturity of peanuts by organizing and evaluating pods based on their development.  Extension agents explained how examining maturity can help growers and researchers determine when peanuts are ready to be dug and better understand the maturity of the crop.

View the 2026 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.