We warmly welcome each of you and thank you for joining us on the 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour. Whether this is your first time with us, or you are a “Peanut Tour Veteran,” we are very happy to host you on our 35th tour. As in previous years, you will be immersed in the production efforts of one of Georgia’s most important agricultural crops and we hope this gives you better insight not only into the challenges our farmers face, but also reasons why we say that the world’s best peanuts are produced in Georgia. It is our hope that you will come to better understand and appreciate the heritage of peanut production in our state. Those engaged in the peanut industry, including farmers, buyers, processors, researchers, Extension personnel, and Georgia Peanut Commission representatives, are proud that Georgia is the leading peanut producing state in the United States and we are excited to share this year’s crop with you.
The 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour is staged in the southwest region of our state’s production area and begins on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 12, with a “Hot Topics” symposium. Our speakers will address the status of our peanut crop and provide a special focus on new technologies in peanut production and processing. You will get an update on the legislation affecting peanut production.
The next two days of the tour provide you an opportunity to learn more about production, research, processing and more. Field visits will provide you with a glimpse of conventional peanut production, digging, and harvest, at the farm of Rusty and Jerry Davis near Climax, Georgia, and Glen Heard in Brinson, Georgia. University of Georgia and U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers will provide you with updates on groundbreaking research projects they have at the UGA Research and Education Center located in Attapulgus, Georgia. The tour visits the facilities of LMC Manufacturing to see the engineering and fabrication of the world’s most widely used peanut cleaning, shelling, and processing equipment. We will get an integrated look at peanut buying, shelling, and processing as we visit the grower-cooperative American Peanut Growers Group in Donalsonville, Georgia.
Again, on behalf of the Peanut Tour Committee, with members from the Georgia Peanut Commission, the University of Georgia, and the USDA-ARS National Peanut Research Lab, I warmly welcome you to the 35th Georgia Peanut Tour! We hope that over the next few days you will better appreciate the complexity of the peanut industry in Georgia and the personal commitments from all involved in producing the world’s finest peanuts! We hope our events will allow for fellowship and that you enjoy southern hospitality at its finest exploring a beautiful, rural part of our state. We offer our sincere thanks to all the sponsors, who through their generosity, help make this tour possible. Please do not hesitate to let us know how we can help you as we travel the highways and byways of our state’s production area. We are proud of our peanut farmers and our peanut industry; we are happy that we can share them with you.