Georgia Peanut Tour attendees got to dig even deeper into a day in the life of a farmer nearing harvest. One of the steps a farmer has to take to know if his peanuts are ready to harvest is assessing the maturity of their peanuts. Extension agents Cale Cloud, Tucker Price and Jacob Kalina taught tour attendees how a farmer may go about determining the maturity of their peanuts.
The peanuts are placed in a basket in which they are then pressure washed, exposing the endocarp. After the peanuts are placed on a Peanut Profile Board by color to determine if the peanuts have reached optimum maturity. If harvested to0 early and peanuts are left immature, the flavor, shelf life, yield, and grade could be affected. Farmers could lose as much as 500 to 700 pounds per acre in fields if not harvested at the correct time.