Appling & Wayne County Agriculture Update

Mark Frye, University of Georgia Extension county agent, provided an update on agriculture in Appling and Wayne County during the Georgia Peanut Tour. Peanut acreage decreased in these counties due to price and market situation. According to Frye, it was very dramatic decreasing from 17,000 acres in 2008 to 9,500 in 2009. The majority of acres shifted to cotton and soybeans. The crop this year started out extremely wet since the counties had a record rainfall in May. According to Frye, both counties had pretty decent rainfall this year until the last few weeks. In Wayne county farmers have experienced a little more army worm pressure in their peanuts than in Appling County. Appling County ranked 23rd in 2008 of total farm gate value out of 159 counties.