After leaving MANA Nutrition, tour attendees hopped on I-75 and headed south to Tifton Quality Peanuts in Tifton, Georgia. Tifton Quality Peanuts began its shelling operation in 2005 and has been running strong ever since. The company is a grower-owned shelling facility. One of the highlights of the tour was the very large domes where the peanuts are stored. Each of the three domes can hold up to approximately 13,000 tons of peanuts. Between the domes and additional warehouses, the facility can store up to 70,000 tons on site.

Attendees walked through the entire shelling process. It begins with peanuts being moved out of storage and into the plant, where they pass through a series of machines. First, the peanuts go through cleaning equipment to remove dirt, rocks, and other foreign materials. From there, they enter a rotating machine that breaks open the hulls, allowing the kernels to separate. The peanuts then move on to a color sorter, which detects defects in each kernel. Defective peanuts are identified by specific colors and separated from the high-quality kernels. Next, the kernels are sized before being packed into large totes and placed in cold storage.

So where do the peanuts go once they are shelled? Companies like Mars Snackfoods, Hershey, and Tom’s Snacks purchase them to use in some of your favorite treats!

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Tour attendees visiting MANA Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Georgia, received an inside look into Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). RUTF is a dense, nutrient-rich food used to treat severe malnutrition. The purpose of RUTF is to help children gain weight, improve strength, and restore overall health. It is made with milk, multivitamins, and peanut butter. The product is especially effective because it is shelf-stable and requires no preparation.

This stop was highlighted because every package of RUTF begins with peanuts grown in Georgia. MANA purchases approximately 2 million pounds of peanuts each month to produce the product. The Fitzgerald facility spans 135,000 square feet and has the capacity to produce 500,000 pounds of RUTF per day—enough to help feed up to 10 million children each year.

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Attendees had the opportunity to visit a buying point in the heart of Coffee County, Georgia. Douglas Peanut and Grain Company serves as the first point of delivery for freshly harvested peanuts in the county. Once peanuts are harvested from the field, farmers must first tag their load right there in the field before transporting it—either in wagons or semi-trailers—to the buying point.

At the buying point, the peanuts undergo a drying process while still in the wagon. Once they are dried to the required moisture percentage, a sample is pulled, and the grading process begins. Grading is carried out by the Georgia Federal-State Inspection Service. After grading, the peanuts are moved into storage warehouses and eventually hauled to shellers for the next stage of processing.

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In September 2024, a devastating hurricane tore through South Georgia, leaving the state’s agricultural industry with a major blow. Chicken houses were demolished, irrigation pivots overturned, and equipment sheds collapsed. Georgia farmers were unsure how they would move forward. Hurricane Helene tested their faith, but through resilience, determination, and heart, they began to clean up and rebuild. That is exactly what Clay McKinnon did. Tour attendees heard his story on the very farm that was once full of devastation.

Clay McKinnon is a third-generation farmer in Coffee and Atkinson counties. He farms alongside his father, Wayne. The McKinnons grow peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans, and blueberries, in addition to raising poultry.

Ashley Smith, Extension agent, and Clay shared in detail the damage his farm sustained. Winds reached 125 mph as Helene tore through the area. The McKinnons lost five poultry houses, grain bins, and equipment sheds; pivots were overturned; debris scattered their fields; and their row crops, timber, and blueberries were heavily damaged. The estimated cost of the destruction was approximately $3 million.

Through it all, Clay pressed forward. Standing on the farm today, tour attendees saw new poultry houses, upright irrigation pivots, and healthy rows of peanuts and cotton. Everything on display stood as a testament to Clay’s resilience and passion for farming.

Additionally, at this stop, Ashley Smith walked attendees through a variety trial she has worked on with Clay. The varieties featured were GA-22MPR, GA-21GR, GA-23RKN, GA-06G, TIFNVHG, DG913, ARNIE, and FLORUN 52N.

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Attendees had the opportunity to watch a combine make its way up the rows of turned peanuts in Cook County, Georgia, today. A combine is used to harvest peanuts. It separates the peanuts from the vine, placing them in a hopper on top of the machine while returning the vines to the field.

Cook County is a hub for Georgia agriculture, producing a wide variety of crops including peanuts, cotton, corn, fruits, and vegetables. Approximately 10,000 acres of peanuts alone are grown in the heart of Cook County. Another unique commodity that many might not expect is persimmons. At one point, Cook County had the most acres of commercial persimmon production in the nation.

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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.

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The first stop of the 2025 Georgia Peanut Tour highlighted the beginning of the peanut harvesting process—digging. Digging takes place approximately 120 to 150 days after planting. When conditions are just right, farmers take a digger up and down the rows. The digger gently pulls up the plants, shakes off the excess soil, and lays the plants back down with the peanuts facing the sun. This allows the peanuts to dry for a few days before the combine comes back through.

Danny Swilley of Swilley Farms spoke about the legacy of his family’s farm. For over 100 years, the Swilley family has been working the land in Lowndes County. With over 3,000 acres in peanuts and cotton, Danny, his two brothers, and his father work hard to preserve the land for future farming generations.

Lowndes County is a diverse county when it comes to agriculture. Farmers there grow peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans, and citrus. With roughly 5,000 acres in peanuts, county Extension agent Joshua Dawson, with Fort Valley State University, works closely with the county’s peanut farmers—like the Swilley family—to ensure a bountiful crop each season.

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The staff and participants on the 2024 Peanut Tour were given an opportunity most would love to have. They were able to do a walk-through tour of Thrush Aircraft located in Albany, Georgia.

Thrush Aircraft, originally called Rockwell from Olney, Texas, came to Albany in March of 1970. The first crop duster, the Rockwell ag plane, was created in 1970 and quickly became in high demand. Due to high demand, production quickly progressed. Over many years and ownership changes, the name Thrush Aircraft came to life in the early 2000s and is now a leading agricultural aircraft manufacturer.

Throughout the tour, attendees were able to see firsthand how the aircrafts were built from the guts of the motor to the paint on the body and tail. It was a true privilege to see just how these amazing machines were built and the pan power behind it all. But now I can stand firm and say that there are many hard-working men and women who work at Thrush Aircraft who put in long hours to make the machines perform to their best ability. From mechanics to the paint and even a test flight, Thrush Aircraft does it all. My advice to you….take a tour and see what they have to offer!

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During a stop at WH Cross Farms in Unadilla, Georgia, Peanut Tour attendees had the opportunity to see first-hand a father and son duo showing the process of harvesting peanuts. WH, the father, has been farming since the 1980s while his son, Jared, has been farming since 2007. They grow peanuts, cotton, and corn.

Agricutlure is an important industry for Dooly County. There are 90,000 acres of cotton and 25,000 acres of peanuts.

Peanut harvesting is a multi-step process. Digging, which is first, is the process of removing the peanuts from the ground, shaking off any excess soil, rotating the plant, and then leaving the plant in rows, allowing the peanut to release moisture before being picked from the vine once dry. Farmers must monitor the maturity of the peanut crop before commencing the important task of digging. If removed from the ground too early, the peanuts will not reach the necessary maturity to meet accepted standards for grading. To reach maturity, the peanut growing period is 140-150 days following planting.

After a few days left to dry, peanuts are ready to be picked. Peanuts are picked with a combine. The combine separates the peanuts form the vine, placing the peanuts in a hopper on the top of the machine and depositing the vines back into the field.

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GreenPoint Ag is a farmer-owned supplier headquartered in Decatur, Alabama. With over 100 retail locations, GreenPoint Ag is a leading supplier of crop nutrients, crop protection products and seed and professional products. They provide services to Georgia, Alabama, Arkansans, Florida and other states.

Tour attendees were able to visit GreenPoint Ag’s Cordele location on the first day of the tour. At the stop, attendees had the opportunity to learn about GreenPoint’s high volume fertilizer and chemical retail facility. Throughout the visit, attendees heard from people within the agronomy team, precision ag team and seed team.

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