Nino Brown works with the University of Georgia as an assistant research scientist with the department of crop and soil science as a peanut breeder. He works closely with Dr. Bill Branch who has been the peanut breeder for over 40 years now. Some of the things that they focus on is increasing yield, increasing dollar value, improving disease resistance, shelling quality, flavor, drought resistance, and a lot of various agronomic traits that are important to growers.

When Brown first started, Dr. Branch and Brown started a trial to look at the genetic gain which is the progress that’s been made over the course of the UGA peanut breeding program. To do that they looked at all the Georgia runner varieties that have been released from the program, starting with Southeastern Runner 5615, which was released in 1947. Then, continuing to look at Dr. Branches runner varieties that he has released since coming here, starting with Georgia Runner on up to Georgia-18RU. This also included the Georgia-06G and Georgia-12Y. One of the things that they learned from the three-year study was that peanut yields have increased over 3,500 pounds per acre since the inception of the peanut breeding program at UGA.

Since Dr. Branch has been breeding peanuts in Georgia, yields have increased almost 2,000 pounds per acre. When they looked at dollar value, dollar values have increased by a little less than 650 dollars per acre and Dr.Branch has been responsible for over 350 dollars per acre increase in dollar value. It was really underscoring the importance and the value of having a public peanut breeding program at the University of Georgia. It is important that they try to maintain that consistent rate of genetic gain that that Dr.Branch has been able to achieve.

To do that, Brown has been looking at ways that we can increase the throughput within the breeding program. They have a lot of really interesting tools at their disposal as plant breeders. Today, they have a lot of high throughput phenotyping devices so there are things, such as drones, that can fly through the field and take really detailed measurements, high speed seed sorting machines, and they are using all these technologies to try to apply them within the peanut breeding program so that they can maintain that high rate of genetic gain.

They have had several years of using drones in their replicated yield trials and they are starting to use them for selection purposes in their nurseries. They are also developing a ground-based phenotyping robot called Watson with collaborators in Athens, Dr. Changying “Charlie” Li and Dr. Rui Xu. They are working with JLA to apply high throughput seed sorting system to the breeding program to sort high oleic exceeds from normal oleic seeds so they can use them in breeding nurseries to sort the high oleic plants more effectively from the normal plants in the nurseries.

Several years ago, the peanut industry had the foresight to sequence the cultivated peanut genome which has made it a lot easier to do things like genetic diversity studies so they can better understand the genetic relatedness of our peanut cultivars. They also had a study a few years ago which looked at all of the peanut varieties that have been released by the university over the course of its 90-year history to better understand how they can make crosses among related or unrelated lines so that they can maintain that constant rate of genetic gain to help improve grower’s bottom line.

They are trying to incorporate high throughput methods and new breeding technologies and new genetic technologies to maintain a high rate of genetic gain for growers in Georgia and beyond.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

On Georgia Peanut Tour 2022, attendees visited the Georgia Department of Ag Seed Lab. Here, techs tests all types of peanuts from December to the first of May. Over 12,500 peanut samples are tested in that time period annually. Their team work vigorously each year to finish that amount of peanut samples in that short of an amount of time.

At the Ag Seed Lab, located in Tifton, Georgia, three different types of peanut seed samples are obtained, official, service, and certified. The official samples are pulled by the state inspectors whom work for the Department of Agriculture. The service samples are given by farmers or gardener needing testing on their seed (a service provided by the Ag Seed Lab at no charge to the farmer and gardeners). The certified samples are in conjunction with Georgia Crop Improvement Association, who manage the certification program for all crop kinds. Each sample type is performed in order to insure a top quality product in the market place for the consumers in the agriculture industry for the state of Georgia.

Tim Brenneman, plant pathologist at University of Georgia, is chairman for the 34^th annual Georgia Peanut Tour. The tour plans to show you peanuts from A to Z. From how they’re grown, how they’re processed, the supporting equipment, what goes into producing the seed and how they are graded. Attendees will learn it all! Attendees will probably learn more about peanuts in this two-day tour than any two days you could spend elsewhere. Tour attendees will get to experience some actual production fields. You’ll see peanuts being dug and harvested. That is one of the main highlights of the tour since the 2022 season has a good, high-quality crop lined up. Visitors will also get to eat some really good food and get to experience a fair amount of South Georgia around the Tifton area. It will be a really good time to be in South Georgia. The peanut tour committee looks forward to it. If there’s anything the committee can do, feel free to flag down one of the committee members. They will all be on the tour at different times and will have committee shirts on. They will be more than happy to get you any information or try to answer any questions you might have. We welcome you to South Georgia and hope you have a great time while you’re here.

View the 2022 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

The thirty-fourth annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held September 13-15, 2022, in Tifton, 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 surrounding Tifton.

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 Tifton Campus.

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

For sponsorship information, contact Hannah Jones at hannah@gapeanuts.com or call at 229-386-3470.

2022 Georgia Peanut Tour Schedule
2022 Tour Maps & Driving Directions – Wednesday & Thursday
Download Sponsorship Info
Register Online
Download Registration Form

We hope you are all well in spite of the challenges we all are facing. It has been a difficult year in many regards. This includes trying to plan a tour for a large group of people to travel together, eat together, visit numerous facilities, etc., all while maintaining strict social distancing and safety precautions. We love hosting the Georgia Peanut Tour, and were determined to try and make it happen. However, as planning progressed, it became apparent that the prudent option would be to cancel the 2020 Georgia Peanut Tour. This was not an easy decision, but I am confident it was the right decision. At this point we will table our plans to go to Southwest Georgia, and hopefully will be there in September of 2021. In the meantime, we will work hard to still produce a great crop of high-quality Georgia peanuts, and we look forward to you joining us next year!

Be safe, and eat more peanuts!

Sincerely,

Tim Brenneman
Georgia Peanut Tour Committee Chairman

Alex Hardy discusses the peanut boiling operation at Hardy Farms Peanuts.

The final stop on the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour brought attendees to the peanut boiling operation of Hardy Farms Peanuts in Hawkinsville, Ga. Boiled peanuts are affectionately known by many as “The Country Caviar.”

The Hardy family has been growing peanuts in the heartland of Georgia for over 70 years. Our growers are part of a multi-generational legacy with experience being handed down from one generation to the next.

Peanut farming began in the mid 1900s for the Hardy family when patriarch, Norman Hardy began farming after returning from the war. He ran a multi-crop farm and livestock operation in the heart of Dodge County. When Mr. Norman unexpectedly passed in 1977 at the age of 57, his sons, Alex, Kenneth and Randy, along with their cousin Terry partnered up to transform the family operation. At the time, the Hardy clan faced agricultural industry hardships during a decade of droughts and low commodity prices.

With innovative thinking and minds focused on mitigating crop losses, the Hardy relatives formed a production business for green peanut sales in 1991, well-known today as Hardy Farms Peanuts. The company focused on selling and marketing green peanuts exclusively until the addition of cousins Brad and Ken Hardy, sons of brothers Alex and Kenneth Hardy to the family business in the late 1990s. Brad and Ken focused their efforts on the production and growth of the boiled peanut market for the family business. The Hardy Farms Peanuts brand recognition grew significantly throughout Middle Georgia with the growth of its road-side retail stands in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today, six members of the Hardy clan manage Hardy Farms Peanuts. That includes Alex Hardy, his son Brad, brother Kenneth Hardy, his son Ken, brother Randy Hardy and cousin Terry Shadix.

Hardy Farms is a leading producer of fresh green and boiled peanuts. They produce over 5 million pounds of green and boiled peanuts annually, that are sold all over the United States. Now with over 25 roadside retail locations throughout Middle Georgia and supermarket presence throughout the southeastern U.S., Hardy Farms peanuts are readily available to anyone craving the true country caviar.

Also, the market for oil and dry roasted peanuts is global. In 2014, cousins Brad Hardy and Ken Hardy, elevated the family business to include the production of oil and dry roasted peanuts with the opening of their roasting plant. Hardy Farms Roasting can produce up to 3,000 pounds of oil and dry roasted peanuts an hour. The company does private label packaging and bulk packaging for commercial companies who use it in their products. It also launched its own retail brand – Party Peanuts by Hardy’s Peanuts Inc. – in four flavors: Simply Salted, Sweet Southern Sriracha, Delicious Dill Pickle and Crushed Black Pepper.

View the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

The Georgia Peanut Tour introduced an on-farm precision agriculture stop at Dawson Brothers Farms in Hawkinsville, Georgia. During the visit Jason Thomas with John Deere and Dusty Engel with Lasseter Equipment Group LLC showcased several pieces of equipment used on the farm and explained their precision ag components.

This stop included most of the day to day precision ag equipment that is used on farms across the state of Georgia. While Dawson Brothers farms has a much larger fleet of equipment to display at this stop (including their own crop duster plane) this stop shows the level of integrated equipment used for the production of peanuts.

The first station on the stop included two John Deere eight thousand series tractors equipped with the newest John Deere 6000 GPS receivers. This receiver has only been available for two years, but it has been upgraded from the Star Fire 3000 receiver. The new Star Fire 6000 offers an increase in accuracy, a faster processor and a software update time to just three minutes compared to thirty minutes with the Star Fire 3000.

How it works: The Star Fire 6000 acquires RTK signal to keep the tractor on line and driving straight. RTK signal is the most accurate option offering sub inch accuracy from pass to pass. RTK accuracy is vital for our peanut farmers as they must use absolute precision when planting and digging peanuts to minimize damage to the crop. In a general sense, RTK signal is acquired from towers placed strategically around the state to get full coverage for farmers receivers to send and receive the signal. Another great thing about RTK is it offers the same accuracy year after year. This option gives farmers the capability to use the same lines after rotating a crop for a year or two and being able to return to the same line for that specific crop.

Attendees were able to drive with “no hands” the GPS enabled John Deere tractors.

Another new product that was featured at this stop will be in the cab of the tractor. John Deere has released its new Generation 4 integrated display. This display is upgraded from the 2630 display that was released in 2010. The new generation 4 display moves away from the typical GS3 technology that most farmers have used or are still using today and it has made a lot of improvements for farmers in this region. While the 2630 gave the farmers an option to record and document their work it, it wasn’t as user friendly as the Generation 4. One major change for peanut farmers in the Generation 4 display is they now have the option to document peanut acres as “Peanuts”. The 2630 only offered a documentation tab as “edible beans” and not peanuts. With the new Generation 4 display peanut farmers have the option to properly document planted acres while using the “Peanuts” tab.

Another major change to discuss is the display in its self. John Deere did a very good job of upgrading this display to look similar to a cell phone or tablet. Cellular devices have a tablet style format to access your applications and the new Generation 4 display by John Deere offers this same layout. This makes ease of operation and navigation through the display incredibly easier for farmers and operators. To put this in perspective. With one tap of the screen farmers can now access all of their programmed implements to quickly switch their choice of operation (planting, Spraying, tillage or harvest) and then one tap of a button to return to their home screen. The 2630 display did not offer this as farmers had to navigate through pages of documentation set-up just to make a minor change. This display saves time for farmers and improves documentation data for the farmers.

The Second station displayed a new John Deere 4030 self-propelled sprayer also equipped with the new Generation 4 display. This sprayer is equipped with a lot of new features in the cab that have eased the operation of applying herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to the peanut crop. A main high point to talk about is the new hydro handle that has been upgraded inside the cab. The idea of the new hydro handle is to give the farmer the capability to control everything on the sprayer without having to touch the display or the console keys. The new handle offers options to move left or right as the sprayer drives autonomously down the row, turning sections on and off with a click of a button, and navigating through the display.

One of the main things on display at this stop was seeing the section control technology. Section control technology is programmed on the sprayer and its main purpose is to eliminate over spraying or over applying a product. The spectators got to see the sprayer spray a full broad cast spray up the row and then as it came back down the row the sprayer would cut off in sections to prevent overlap. While that’s going on outside the cab, inside the cab is another story. The operator can also see where he applied via the display in the cab. As the operator drives the sprayer, the screen is painting the field blue where he has already applied. This lets the operator know that he has already applied there, but if he misses a spot the screen will not turn blue. This lets the operator know to go back over that spot and apply again. This technology is a major game changer in our industry. It lowers cost and risk to damage the crop by not over applying, but it also lowers the risk of missing spots in the field.

Following the precision ag demo, attendees were able to see a crop dusting demonstration and visit a peanut field where Dawson Brothers were harvesting peanuts.

View the 2019 Georgia Peanut Photo Album.

Georgia Peanut Tour attendees were able to learn more about peanut harvest at Chase Farms in Ogelthorpe, Georgia. Attendees were greeted by father and son duo, Glen Lee and Donald. Together, they grow peanuts, field corn, sweet corn and raise poultry. Donald currently represents farmers in his area by serving as the District Five Georgia Peanut Commission Board member.

During the tour stop, attendees were also able to learn more about an on-farm research trial by the University of Georgia Peanut Team at Chase Farms. The research is focusing on the use of Apogee, a plant growth regulator. Apogee is applied twice per year to peanuts to help with excessive vine growth. The product works on peanuts by reducing vegative vine growth and increasing yields when used properly.

“We usually have bigger vines and this product is used to hold the vine growth down so that more energy goes into producing nuts rather than just producing vines,” Donald Chase says. “It is something that is promising.”

In addition to the digging demonstration, local county Extension agents presented a Harvest Maturity Clinic for tour attendees. Farmers utilize the hull scrape method or pod blasting and the Peanut Profile Board to determine if peanuts have reached optimum maturity for harvest. Digging peanuts is one of the biggest decisions farmers make each year. The maturity of a peanut affects the yield, flavor, grade and shelf life. Farmers can lose as much as 500 to 700 pounds per acre in fields if peanuts are harvested too early or too late. During the tour several county agents set up stations to show attendees how to use the Peanut Profile Board. To learn more about using the profile board, watch this video from an earlier tour.

View the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album.

To kick off the final day of the tour, Agri-AFC graciously hosted tour attendees at the company’s Cordele location. Agri-AFC, a company who supports crops of all varieties, was formed in the fall of 2003 as a joint venture between Alabama Farmers Cooperative and WinField United. This joining allowed local cooperative members of the Alabama Farmers Cooperative to have more competitively priced crop input products and availability of new products.

Since its inception, Agri-AFC has made several additions by purchasing fertilizer companies, retail locations and storage and handling facilities throughout the Southeast. Agri-AFC is based out of Decatur, Alabama, and currently has more than 300 employees. These employees staff the seven fertilizer terminals, three crop protection warehouses, three seed warehouses, eight professional products locations, a cotton gin and warehouse and 30 retail operations throughout the Southeast.

The Cordele location, seated on 13 acres, operates an 8,000-ton fertilizer plant and is home to the company’s largest retail location. For fertilizer specifically, the plant sees approximately 50 semi-trucks each day, where they operate a new high-speed system that loads trucks in six minutes or less; much faster than an older version that may take 45 minutes to an hour to load. Most peanuts are not fertilized; however, since peanuts are typically rotated with cotton and corn, both crops that need fertilizer, what this location offers is important to the South Georgia row crop farmer.

Clint Powell with Agri-AFC discusses different types of fertilizers with Peanut Tour attendees.

This location also services 12 of Georgia’s 14 stores as a full-service agricultural retailer, operating in 20,000 square feet of retail space. In addition to the fertilizer offered, the company treats corn, cotton and soybean seed, as well as rye, wheat and oats occasionally. They also sale a variety of chemical products for peanuts and other crops, as well as lime and land plaster.

View the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour Photo Album