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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Colombo North America is a Brazilian company that is strongly active in the development of machine solutions for the mechanized harvesting of grains and agricultural components. With 50 years of history and a presence in more than 60 countries, Colombo is a solid business group in constant growth. Located in the city of Pindorama, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Colombo has a structure of 20,000 m2 of built area, divided into four manufacturing units: MIAC, AEMCO, COLOMBO FOUNDRY and COTRAME.

Internationally, Colombo Industries operates two commercial and technical support companies: one in Adel, Georgia, USA, and the other in Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.

Colombo is a traditional company known for its strength and capacity to innovate. Whoever becomes their client or partner has a company that is highly committed to sustainable development, the daily improvement of service and to social and environmental responsibility.

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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.

View the 2025 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

We would like to welcome you to the 2025 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 37^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 2025 Georgia Peanut Tour is staged in the south-central region of our state’s production area and begins on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 16, with a “Hot Topics” symposium. Expert speakers will address the status of our peanut crop and provide a special focus on enhancing the resilience of the peanut industry.

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 peanut production, digging, and harvest. In addition, you will learn about the importance of on-farm research collaborations between the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State University, and commercial peanut farmers. The tour also includes visits down the supply chain to Tifton Quality Peanut’s shelling plant and Douglas Peanut’s buying point. Attendees will also tour Columbo, MANA, BCT Gin, and more!

Again, on behalf of the Peanut Tour Committee, with members from the USDA-ARS Peanut Lab, the Georgia Peanut Commission, and the University of Georgia, I warmly welcome you to the 37^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 Georgia’s hospitality 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, and we are happy that we can share them with you.

The thirty-seventh annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held September 16-18, 2025, in Valdosta, 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 South 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 projects through the University of Georgia Extension Service.

For attendees flying, the closest airport is the Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia. Hotel accommodations can be made at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 2 Meeting Place Drive, Valdosta, Ga. 31601 by calling 229-241-1234 or Fairfield Inn & Suites at 2010 W. Hill Ave., Valdosta, Ga. 31601 by calling 229-242-1225. Reservations can also be made online. The room block deadline is Aug. 18, 2025.

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.

Online registration is closed. Individuals can register on-site.
Tour Schedule
Map & Driving Directions: Wednesday, Sept. 17 & Thursday, Sept. 18
Download Sponsorship Packet

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!

View the 2024 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

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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Nolin Steel is a third-generation family manufacturer, that values on quality, integrity and constant improvement. They provide in-house design, quality materials and cutting-edge technology with a customer-focused process from start to finish.

Beginning in 1975 with Guy and Frank Nolin, Nolin Steel’s roots and passion began and remain in the peanut industry; however, Nolin is quickly becoming a leading provider of processing and handling systems for dry bulk solids.

For peanuts specifically, Nolin supplies equipment and turnkey projects throughout the world and serve all segments of the industry. In addition to system designs and modeling services, they handle installation, millwright and maintenance services.

Segments of the peanut industry Nolin serves: buying points, commercial shelling, blanching, seed shelling, in-shell cleaning and processing, and specialty niche projects.

To learn more about their peanut systems, click the following link: Information on Peanut Systems.

To watch a brief video summarizing their quality of their peanut systems, click the following link: Quality Preciseness and Simplicity

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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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After leaving the farm, tour attendees traveled over to the Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center and Georgia Seed Development. Here, they split into two groups to tour each.

Georgia Seed Development is responsible for overseeing the foundation plant material production in Georgia. As a nonprofit, self-supporting organization, GSD provides economic support for new business opportunities that help keep agriculture as Georgia’s No. 1 industry. This effort has resulted in more than $15 million of additional support for University of Georgia cultivar development since 1997.

Overseen by an 11-member board, operating funds are derived from seed and vegetative plant material sales, as well as royalty fees for cultivars developed by UGA.

GSD works closely with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the University of Georgia Research Foundation and the Georgia Crop Improvement Association in supporting various research projects and in bringing new cultivars to market. GSD has an active seed production program for most crops grown in the state including peanuts, soybeans, small grains, cotton, canola, blueberries and bahia grass. Their programs maintain varietal identity and high seed quality as they increase seed quantities from a small amount of breeder seed to a sufficient volume of certified seed and plant stock for commercial crops. Quality factors such as purity, germination and freedom from noxious weeds are monitored during the certification process.

Georgia Seed Development also maintains foundation material of vegetatively propagated turfgrass and horticultural cultivars developed by the University of Georgia and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service.

GSD’s peanut program is housed at their Plains, Georgia, location. They recently completed a multi-year expansion of this facility to add enhanced equipment for drying, storage, shelling and treating peanuts. The Plains facility also has the capacity to condition and store small grains and soybeans using an air-screen machine with flat bag storage. A large temperature- and humidity-controlled room at this site provides long-term seed storage.

View the 2024 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.