For many first time attendees on the Georgia Peanut Tour, the event provided them a better understanding of the entire peanut industry and issues farmers’ face year after year. Two of those first time attendees this year had never even stepped into a peanut field before coming on the tour. Emily Rudolph and Megan Birkheimer with Kraft Foods are very grateful for the opportunity to attend the Georgia Peanut Tour. According to Emily, she had no clue all of the steps before Kraft Foods receives the peanuts. She had never seen peanuts in the field growing and she thoroughly enjoyed learning about all the production issues that farmers’ face on a daily basis. The information gained has been very useful and the contacts she has made within the industry will be an asset to her job. Emily is a product developer with Planters and she grew up in Wisconsin.
Meghan is also a product developer with Planters and focuses on all natural foods. She enjoyed learning about the entire process and putting faces to those steps. The tour helped her to realize all the concerns that each person has within their segment of the peanut industry. She also did not know all the steps from farmer, to buying point and to sheller before Kraft Foods receives the peanut product. For this New Jersey girl, the tour provided her the opportunity to visit a working family farm. Meghan says, the tour is like going from charts, photos and diagrams to actually digging in the dirt.