Jake Fountain, mycotoxin and post-harvest pathogen specialist at the University of Georgia, provided an update on his research program during the 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour. Fountain’s research program primarily focuses on aflatoxin issues in peanuts and also other crops overall.

His lab is working on a few different research directions to try to mitigate aflatoxin issues including host plant resistance. Through the research, he is looking at bringing genetics from wild species of peanuts to new breeding lines in order to improve the resistance of peanuts to aflatoxin issues.

The second area we work on is detection for aflatoxins. Fountain works closely in collaboration with other UGA and USDA research scientists to develop technology to do hot spot prediction using drone technology equipped with fancy cameras to try to find spots in the field that are at higher risk for aflatoxin issues. He is also working closely with this group to try to look at the soil microbiology associated with those hot spots and see if they are at a greater risk for having isolates of the aspergillus fungus that make more amounts of aflatoxins.

The third focus area is looking at the pathogens’ biology. There’s still a lot of questions about why this fungus produces aflatoxin in the first place. What controls how much it makes and how it actually gets into peanuts.

Fountain is looking at doing a survey of aspergillus fungus associated with peanuts here in the Southeast. Primarily, here in southern Georgia in collaboration with Premium Peanut and other UGA scientists and also Hudson Alpha in Huntsville, Alabama, Fountain is looking at doing genome sequencing and understanding the genetics of this fungus.

Finally, we’re looking at biotechnology right now. GMO peanuts are not something that the peanut industry here in the U.S is really exploring using due to export concerns and public perceptions. The technology that’s used in GMOs can be very useful for aflatoxin prevention so what Fountain is trying to do now is to develop a kind of biotech pesticide that uses the same type of technology that would go into GMO but can be applied as a spray to non-GMO peanuts and hopefully provide the same level of effect to reducing aflatoxins.

“Overall, this year we’re looking at a pretty good crop with reduced aflatoxin and risk,” Fountain says. “However, vigilance is always the key and we’re hoping that our research programs help fill in some gaps and help with the mitigation of aflatoxin for our growers here in the state.”

View the 2023 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Nino Brown, University of Georgia peanut breeder provided an update to 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour attendees on the peanut breeding program at the university. Brown works closely with Bill Branch, peanut breeder at the University of Georgia, as they work to develop new cultivars or varieties of peanuts for growers in Georgia and beyond.

“We look to improve yield and improve profitability,” Brown says. “We do a lot of work improving disease resistance, insect resistance and improving shelling quality characteristics that are important for the growers, the shellers, manufacturers and ultimately the consumer.”

So, Brown and Branch make crosses between cultivars that have a number of good characteristics and then they evaluate the progenies that come out of those crosses. This process takes several years.

“It takes approximately 10 to 12 years from the time we make an initial cross-pollination to the time we have something that is ready for a variety release and then ready to sell to growers,” Brown says.

The breeding lines are tested all over the state of Georgia at research farms in Midville, Plains, Attapulgus and Tifton. The new peanut lines are also tested at research and education centers or research farms throughout the peanut growing region where the cultivar could be grown.

“We do that so whenever we release a cultivar to growers, we know that it’s going to perform well in a variety of growing situations and in a number of growing environments that the cultivar may encounter in in South Georgia,” Brown says.

View the 2023 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

The 35th annual Georgia Peanut Tour kicked off with a Hot Topics seminar on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at the Cloud Livestock Pavilion in Bainbridge, Georgia. The seminar provided an update on the 2023 peanut crop as well as an update on the farm bill and other legislative activities that can have an impact on the peanut industry. Each year the seminar also highlights some of the latest hot topics happening in the industry and this year’s special focus included advancements in integrative precision agriculture for enhanced peanut production and processing.  The speakers provided an overview of the University of Georgia FoodPIC Center and the USDA Peanut Germplasm Collection as well as information on irrigation technologies and precision agriculture in peanut production.

Click on the links below to view the speaker presentations.

Novel Technologies in Peanut Processing – Dr. Jim Gratzek, director of UGA’s Food Innovation and Commercialization Center (FoodPIC)

USDA Peanut Germplasm Collection at the UGA Griffin Campus Genebank – Dr. Shyam Tallury, Peanut Curator at the USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit

New Peanut Irrigation Technologies – Dr. Wes Porter, University of Georgia Associate Professor and Extension Specialist covering Precision Agriculture and Irrigation

Precision Agricultural Management Systems – Dr. George Vellidis, University of Georgia Professor

Strategies to Improve Peanut Production – Dr. Cris Pilon, University of Georgia Assistant Professor in Row Crops Physiology

Precision Agriculture in Peanut Production – Dr. Simer Virk, University of Georgia Assistant Professor and Extension Precision Ag Specialist

Update on the 2023 Georgia Peanut Crop – Dr. Scott Monfort, University of Georgia Extension Peanut Agronomist

Washington and Farm Bill Update – Dr. Stanley Fletcher, policy professor at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College’s Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation

View the 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

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 35^th 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 35^th 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.

View the 2023 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

The thirty-fifth annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held September 12-14, 2023, in Bainbridge, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The tour brings the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. Tour stops will be made in several peanut producing counties in Southwest Georgia.

Attendees can expect to see first-hand nearly every aspect of peanut production in the state. This year’s tour hosts many exciting stops including on-farm harvest demonstrations and clinics, as well as, research at the University of Georgia Attapulgus Research and Education Center.

Lodging for the tour will be housed at the Hampton Inn in Bainbridge, Ga. Please call 229-246-1341 and ask for the Georgia Peanut Tour room block when reserving rooms. A standard room is $125 plus taxes and breakfast is included. The deadline to reserve rooms is Aug. 20, 2023. Additional lodging is available at the Holiday Inn Express in Bainbridge, Ga. The room rate is $130.99 plus tax (breakfast included). The deadline to reserve rooms is Aug. 7, 2023.

For attendees flying, the closest airport is the Tallahassee International Airport.

For specific tour info or details, contact David West at 229-386-3470.

The Georgia Peanut Commission, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the USDA-ARS National Peanut Laboratory coordinate the tour.

Registration is now closed. Individuals can register on-site at the tour.
Download Sponsorship Packet
2023 Tour Schedule
Tour Maps & Driving Directions – Wed., Sept. 13 and Thurs., Sept. 14

Tim Brenneman is a plant pathologist at the University of Georgia and the 2022 Georgia Peanut Tour Chairman. On the tour, he discussed some of the research he does for the National Peanut board and this work is based on helping breeders develop the best varieties for disease resistance. They are looking for an input that will take fewer applications of fungicide and be more economical to produce. Most of the lines that they grow are developed by the USDA, University of Georgia, or University of Florida as well as have some private breeders like ACI Seeds. Brenneman does a screening project each year where he accepts entries from any of the breeders and he puts them together in a nursery field where they particularly cultivate diseases and can evaluate the relative susceptibility of all the different lines. It is a chance for all the breeding programs to have things together in one comparative screen. He then uses that data to advise growers on the relative susceptibility of the lines once they’re released and growers start growing them in the field.

He showed the tour attendees some of the work that has been done in that department since they have some good disease starting to develop. The participants on the tour were also able to see some of the big differences in some of the cultivars that they are growing. There is a wide variety that he has in terms of cultivar selection and that’s very important as it is one of the foundations for our industry.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Albert Culbreath is a research plant pathologist for the University of Georgia at the Tifton campus. He has worked for the university for thirty years and works largely on leaf spot diseases caused by a couple of fungal pathogens and tomato spotted wilt virus. He feels that a lot of progress has been made in terms of managing tomato spotted wilt virus. A lot of the success has come from breeding programs. The resistance in the varieties available has improved dramatically over the last thirty years.

He feels as if it is a bit of a mystery but for whatever reason tomato spotted wilt virus has been on the increase in recent years. In fact, the pressure that farmers are seeing in 2022 is the heaviest the industry has seen in roughly 20 years despite the better resistance and integrated management that farmers are practicing. The issue does present an opportunity for Culbreath’s research standpoint to evaluate more varieties and more breeding lines and see how they stack up and how farmers can best use them. In addition to that, what we can combine with those varieties to improve disease control.  There is not any immunity in any of the cultivar lines. However, the variety Georgia-12Y has remarkably better resistance than Georgia-06, which is still our predominant variety. Even with the best resistance we have in a year like 2022, especially with early planted and such, that’s just not enough.

One of the factors researchers have worked with for years is Phorate and Thimet insecticide. The tomato spotted wilt virus is spread by thrips and they have not seen many insecticides at all that provides a consistent suppression of tomato spotted wilt virus. Despite the thrips control, Phorate or Thimet is the exception to that for whatever reason in the 2022 year. Researchers have seen a larger response to Thimet than what has been seen in quite some time. There is still extremely heavier pressure, but for whatever reason, a large response to the Thimet insecticide is being seen.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Bob Kemerait, an extension plant pathologist works hard to take the information that is developed by the researchers at the University of Georgia and put it into a form that growers can use to make a difference in their profitability. That’s the whole key for growers in Georgia, how can we become more profitable.

There were three takeaways Kemerait spoke about on the 2022 Georgia Peanut Tour. The first was stressing important diseases can be in terms of the profitability and yields. One of the most important diseases he talks about was tomato spotted wilt virus. It is spread by a small insect called thrips. It has been especially bad in the 2022 season and anything and everything growers could do to manage that disease ends when they closed the furrow. Currently, at approximately 125-130 days, you may see tomato spotted wilt virus apparent in some fields but there’s nothing growers could have done other than the decisions they made at planting time. Some of those decisions are what variety to plant, what to put in the furrow, and what time to begin planting. You’re also likely to see leaf spot diseases and white mold disease. All these diseases are especially devastating if they’re not controlled.

The second topic Kemerait spoke on was the effort by not only by the University of Georgia, but by neighboring states as well, to try and develop strategies for managing diseases. This work is also in conjunction with peanut breeders who look to find varieties that have greater resistance to diseases like leaf spot and tomato spotted wilt virus. This work is done to ensure we become more profitable and remain profitable. The industry also has help from agrochemical industries. Agrochemical companies safely, efficiently, and effectively produce products that we can put out to protect yields for our growers. Growers in Georgia, except for a very few organic growers, cannot grow their crop successfully if they don’t fight diseases like tomato spider wilt virus, leaf spot, and white mold. All the production practices are integrated into an extension tool called Peanut RX. Peanut RX is a tool that our growers can use to find ways to better manage their crop based upon the risks because if diseases are not managed, the yield could be off by thousands of pounds.

Lastly, Kemerait stressed the importance of recognizing the investment that goes into protecting these farmers and their fields. The investment comes from the farmers as they invest the Georgia Peanut Commission. It comes from the growers themselves because diseases are a significant problem for profitability in Georgia peanut production and only by managing them are we effective and remain some of the best peanuts.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Eric Prostko is an extension weed specialist at the University of Georgia and a speaker at the 2022 Georgia Peanut Tour. Prostko spends roughly half of his time working with peanuts and the other fifty percent working on the other crops. Prostko spent his time talking about the importance of weed control and peanut production systems.

He stated that if growers don’t control weeds, it’s very likely that harvesting peanuts will not be an option. That is because it’s a two-step process that requires the inversion process and then the combining process. If weeds are present then it can be very detrimental to that process. Additionally, weeds compete with peanuts for resources like sunlight, nutrients, and water. Weeds will prevent those resources from being allocated to the peanuts and that will affect the yield of the peanuts. The presence of weeds also influences yields by inhibiting the deposition of fungicides. If growers have a lot of weeds in the field, it is harder for fungicide sprays to reach the target, which is the canopy of the of the peanut plant. It is very critical that farmers manage their weeds both from a yield, harvesting, and fungicide standpoint.  If growers were to allow weeds to produce seeds in different areas of the crop, then those seeds will be there in subsequent rotations which could then cause a problem.

Prostko conducted his own research where he had two plots, one to highlight peanuts that went untreated and another to highlight peanuts that were treated. The plot that went untreated eventually was so overtaken by pigweed that Prostko had to mow the entire plot due to not being able to get equipment through the plot. He felt that his research was a great example of the results of not treating your crops. His treated plot was on a standard program that is recommended for most growers. The program consists of three herbicides that are applied at planting the around the thirty-day mark, an additional three herbicides are applied.

Prostko feels that farmers in Georgia have not suffered as much as others have in other states such as Tennessee and Arkansas.  That is due to taking actions for weed control that growers can’t do in other states. One of the most troublesome weeds growers face is called palmer amaranth and as most people in Georgia would consider it “Public Enemy Number One.”  When talking about weeds, it is extremely interesting plant. It can grow up to six or seven feet tall. The female plants can produce up anywhere from 500 000 seed per plant or more.  So, it’s extremely competitive and it’s hard to control. Researchers have developed some herbicides, but the species has evolved some resistances to some of the herbicides that growers use so it is very challenging. The plant itself is kind of woody, so it is tough on equipment if it’s left uncontrolled. When it is going through an inverter or going through the combine it can cause some problems. There are many other weeds that are present in the peanut industry. Over the last several years, palmer amaranth has really growers a lot of heartache. Fortunately, for peanuts there are some great programs to manage the weed. If growers implement those programs and with some timely moisture, they can keep it under control.

Prostko has been in Georgia for 23 years and when he first came, this plant was not a problem. Then over time, for various reasons, it has become the number one weed that growers have in not only peanuts but most of our economic crops. Having clean peanut fields is critical to the success of Georgia’s peanut production and a lot of time is spent trying to help the county agents and growers figure out the best ways to manage weeds.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Scott Monfort is a peanut agronomist with the University of Georgia. Monfort explains how Georgia is the number one peanut producer in the United States and what producers go through to make that possible. Georgia produces roughly fifty percent of the peanuts in the United States, which is equivalent to 670,000 to 700,000 acres annually. It is not an easy process that growers go through to produce this crop. Growers take on a lot of debt and stress so the university and USDA work hard to minimize that stress. They try to do all the research that is necessary to enhance the productivity of this crop and try to minimize the pests.

Monfort focused his attention the very common issue this year in peanut production, tomato spotted wilt virus. If tomato spotted wilt virus is present, you will see a lot of yellowing and stunted growth. Even though newer varieties have good resistance, it’s not immune. Monfort stated that growers must use pesticides, or in this case insecticides, for the vector. In this case, it is a small pest called thrips. He also states that even though there is a lot of tomato spotted wilt virus in the current season, farmers are still predicted to have a good crop.

Monfort informs visitors of the work that goes into producing such a valuable crop to every person in the United States. Peanuts are very important for people and people in the peanut industry want consumers to know that pride is taken in the work they do. He assured visitors of how much effort goes into producing a crop and left visitors with an understanding as to why there is a fluctuation in price and availability.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.