The Georgia Peanut Tour stopped in Jeff Davis County at the farm of Will Ellis. Tim Varnedore, Jeff Davis County Extension Coordinator, met with the attendees regarding peanut prouduction in the area. He says the peanut crop looks very good in this stage of production. Jeff Davis farmers planted 6,865 acres of peanuts in the county this season and there is an estimated 10,290 tons estimated to be produced. Fifty-five to sixty percent of peanuts were planted on irrigated land in Jeff Davis County. Farmers have had problems in handling pigweeds and armyworms and the heavy early season rain fall have haltered production overall. Jeff Davis County also grows cotton (17,429 acres), soybeans (3,928 acres), corn (3,355 acres), and tobacco (301 acres).
Author: joycrosby
Why attend the Georgia Peanut Tour?
Scott Angle, dean of the University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences attended the tour again this year. Here is an update from him on the college and the importance of the Georgia Peanut Tour.
Coffee County Agriculture Overview
The Georgia Peanut Tour host city this year is Douglas, Ga. Agriculture is very important to the economy in Coffee County. Eddie McGriff, Coffee County Extension Coordinator, says the peanut crop in the county looks very good although it all depends on the weather since they have such a late crop. Out of the 15,400 acres of peanuts planted in 2009, there is an estimated production rate of 25,410 tons. Farmers in Coffee County have to face production issues such as excessive rains during planting, which resulted in a very late planted crop, controlling pigweeds, and low prices. 40% of peanuts planted in the county are irrigated. Coffee County also grows cotton, corn, soybeans, blueberries, and hay.
Georgia Peanut Tour kicks off
The 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour brings the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. The Hot Topics Seminar on Tuesday will include food safety experts discussing production practices, quality management, outbreak investigations, and more. The tour includes visits at farmers’ fields, research plots, a buying point, Federal- State inspection, an equipment dealer, a weather network station, and a shelling and storage facility as well as a peanut blanching facility. Demonstrations of determining optimum peanut maturity and an innovative new technology for evaluating pod moisture will also be observed.
Scott Tubbs, University of Georgia cropping systems agronomist, is serving as the 2009 chairman of the Georgia Peanut Tour.
2009 Tour Set For September
The Georgia Peanut Tour Committee has set September 15-17, 2009, as the dates for the 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour. The Early Bird Hot Topics’ Seminar begins Tuesday, September 15, at 3:00 p.m. and will be held at the Holiday Inn Express in Douglas, Ga. The tour spotlights South Central Georgia’s peanut production area.
The tour includes a cross section of field conditions in South Central Georgia, peanut harvest clinics, production research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, peanut handling and grading facilities as well as a focus on biofuels, equipment and implements, trailers and dryer, dome storage and handling, shelling and blanching.
The registration fee is $35 per person, which includes all meals and reserved transportation during the tour. After Aug. 7, the registration increases to $45. For more information about the 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour contact the Georgia Peanut Commission at (229) 386-3470 or tammy@gapeanuts.com. Tour information is also available at www.gapeanuts.com.
The Georgia Peanut Commission, University of Georgia-Tifton Campus and Griffin Campus, Southwest Research & Education Center, Attapulgus Research & Education Center, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service National Peanut Research Lab coordinate the tour.
2008 Peanut Tour Committee
2008 Georgia Peanut Tour with President Jimmy Carter.
The 2008 Peanut Tour Committee extends a thank you to everyone attending this year’s Georgia Peanut Tour. As soon as plans are ready for the 2009 tour then information will be posted on this blog.
Tour Committee & Organizers:
Stan Jones, Chairman
Scott Tubbs, Secretary
John Beasley
Emory Murphy
Tim Brenneman
Nathan Smith
Glen Harris Sandra McNeil
Chris Butts Billy Mills
Joy Carter Tim Williams
Alex Csinos Amanda Smith
Marcus Evans Albert Culbreath
Yen-Con Hung Bob Kemerait
Tammy Pate Joan Underwood
Peanut Tour Photo Albums
There are a few photo albums online of the 2008 Georgia Peanut Tour. Here’s a link to each one so you can check out the variety of photos taken at each tour stop.
Photo Album by Joy Carter, Georgia Peanut Commission
Photo Albums by Joel Paz, University of Georgia
Day 2 – Visit with President Jimmy Carter
Day 2 – Additional Tour Photos
Photo Album by Grant Tuttle, McKee Foods (Little Debbie Snacks)
Blog & Media Coverage
Joy Carter (right), Georgia Peanut Commission director of communications, interviews Don McGough, field services representative with Georgia Farm Bureau, on the Georgia Peanut Tour.
The 2008 Georgia Peanut Tour marks the first year of hosting a the tour blog covering all aspects of the three-day event. I have enjoyed loading all the many photos and posts from each stop on the tour and I hope the information has been beneficial to each of you reading this blog. If you are interested in receiving information on future peanut tours then be sure to post a comment to this blog post and send me your email. Throughout the tour there were also a variety of television & radio media coverage that came on the peanut tour. Thanks to Southeast Ag Net, the Georgia Farm Monitor, Fox 31 News and WALB News of Albany for covering this year’s Georgia Peanut Tour.
Georgia Farm Monitor News Story by Rick Treptow
Click on the “WEB Videos” icon on the left side of the page, then scroll down the list to the Sept. 27 show.
Southeast Ag Net by Julie McPeake
Georgia Peanut Commission Delivers Successful Tour
New Peanut Cultivars Aliviate Harvesting Logistics
Video – Fox 31 News
2008 Georgia Peanut Kicks Off in Cordele
By Jana Barnello
WALB News Story
Peanut Tour Spotlighting South Central Georgia
By Wainwright Jeffers
More Southern Food
The last night of the Georgia Peanut Tour provided attendees with another view of Southern hospitality and cooking at Potter’s Community Center in Dougherty County, Ga. The community center is one of Dougherty County’s most cherished landmarks. The center is situated on approximately 50 acres in a plantation like setting. The American Peanut Shellers Association sponsored a reception held at the center. During the reception greetings were brought by Joe Campbell, president of the American Peanut Shellers Association and Armond Morris, chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission. The dinner that night featured a low country boil prepared by Butch Griffin and the folks with Dow AgroSciences – Marvin Stewart and Al Wright. The dessert of course topped the night! Everyone on the tour got a big helping of Peanut Butter ‘n Chocolate Ice Cream or Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. What better way to end the tour than with ice cream!
First Time Attendees on Tour
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.