Ronnie Barentine, Pulaski County Extension Coordinator, Rodney & Gary Dawson, Pulaski County farmers, and Emily Evans, scout for farmers in Pulaski County.

While in Pulaski County, Georgia Peanut Tour attendees learned about the Peanut Intensive Management program farmers are utilizing to provide total production management. Ronnie Barentine, Pulaski County Extension Director, developed the concept to help farmers in his area. Peanuts contribute $7 million to farm income in Pulaski County each year. There are 8,000 acres of peanuts grown in Pulaski County with a production of 12,000 tons. The primary crops grown in the county are cotton, peanuts and corn. This year farmers have been faced with the drought, high temperatures and high energy costs. Farmers in Pulaski County have utilized the Peanut Intensive Management Program since 2002 on 18,000 acres. The program involves the use of computer programs and integrated pest management to assist growers with management decisions. Computer programs consist of Irrigator Pro, Harv-Pro and AU Peanut and assist the farmers with irrigation scheduling, timely harvest decisions and scheduling fungicide applications. The Integrated Pest Management consists of scouting fields for weeds, insects and disease. Farmers in the area have also hired the services of Emily Evans in scouting their peanut fields. She is the eyes for them in the field when looking for insect or disease problems and enters information such as soil temperature to help with scheduling irrigation.