Blues Bash

The Blues Brothers dinner and entertainment evening sponsored by Syngenta was a total success. Fun for everyone young and old.

Check out the Peanut Family Album for all the photos from the conference, including about 100 just from the blues bash alone.

Most people will agree that the 10th anniversary of the Southern Peanut Growers Conference was the best ever. It will be hard to top this next year.

Watch for more posts and YouTube videos to be added in the days to come – not done yet!

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Feeding the Hungry with Peanuts

The potential for the peanut-based product known as Plumpy’nut to fight global famine is tremendous, according to Jeff Johnson of Birdsong Peanut Company.

“It’s revolutionized saving the lives of severely malnourished children in Africa, saving tens of thousands of lives,” Jeff says. “The demand in Africa alone could be 1.2 billion pounds.”

“If the USAID devoted just ten percent of their $120 million food budget to something like this, they could potentially save five million lives,” he adds.

Listen to an interview with Jeff here:

Jeff Johnson (3:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Economy Optimism

What goes up, must come down, and the opposite is also true when it comes to the economy.

Robert Nobles with Synovus Banks had pretty positive message for peanut producers regarding the economy. “While the economy is struggling at this point, it will get better, its just going to take some time,” he says. “When using history as a guide, things work in cycles. This cycle is negative for stocks and for growers, but that will change.”

Listen to an interview with Robert here:

Robert Nobles (3:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Peanut Supply and Demand

Richard Barnhill with peanut brokers Mazur and Hockman gave growers an update on the supply/demand situation for peanuts.

His main message was that even though the crop is going to be big this year, there’s plenty of demand for peanuts. “We need to maintain acres about the same as we have now and the market is going to make sure that peanuts stay competitive with other commodities,” Richard says.

Listen to an interview with Richard here:

Richard Barnhill (2:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Mississippi Proud to be New Addition

The Mississippi Peanut Growers are kind of the “little brother” in the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation, still a baby organization themselves having only just started two years ago.

Clayton Lawrence of southeast Mississippi is the second president of the association and he says they are proud to be a growing part of the industry.

“We’re up to around 28,000 acres this year, up from probably 5,000 five years ago, so we are growing significantly,” Clayton said.

They are learning a lot being part of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation and Clayton says were happy to bring their own political contacts and enthusiasm to the table as well.

Listen to an interview with Clayton here:

Clayton Lawrence (3:00 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Syngenta Part of the Peanut Growers Family

One of the sponsors that has been supporting the Southern Peanut Growers Conference for all ten years of its existence is Syngenta and district sales manager Lyle Stewart says its just part of their support for the industry.

“We just appreciate having an opportunity to offer good quality products to peanut growers,” Lyle said. “A lot of the growers that we see at this conference are people that we see on a weekly basis so they are more like friends.”

Syngenta is sponsoring the Tuesday evening dinner and entertainment. “These peanut growers work hard all year long so when we have an opportunity to sponsor a function like we have tonight its a true opportunity for us to say thank you.”

Listen to an interview with Lyle here:

Lyle Stewart (3:00 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Peanuts and the World Food Crisis

Peanut growers heard from Scott Rawlins of Makhteshim Agan of North America, better known as MANA, about the global food crisis.

Rawlins talked about the current situation and what the so-called “experts” are saying – and why agricultural producers seem to be getting left out of the equation. The “no-brainer” is that we need to increase food production worldwide. “Some of the other things we need to do is adopt new technology,” Scott says. “Pesticides, fertilizers, and improved seeds are crucial to developing long-term sustainability and food production globally.”

He also talked about how peanuts can help the global food crisis situation with such a high protein product.

Listen to an interview with Scott here:

Scott Rawlins (5:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

USDA Undersecretary is a Peanut Lover

USDA Undersecretary Dr. Gale Buchanan may work in Washington, DC but his heart is in the southeast. “I spent 21 years at Auburn University conducting research in peanuts and other crops,” said Buchanan. “Then went to the University of Georgia as the director of the Coastal Plain Experiment Station and dean at the college of agriculture.” He also attended the University of Florida, so he is a “triple Southerner.”

His main message to peanut producers is that the “future is predicated on information, knowledge and technology gained through research and education programs.”

He had much more to say about the potential for peanuts in feeding the world and playing a part in the biofuels industry as well. Listen to an interview with Dr. Buchanan here:

Gale Buchanan (3:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Future Peanut Leadership

The Peanut Leadership Program is a cooperative effort between Syngenta Crop Protection, grower organizations and agricultural extension. Participants are nominated by agricultural leaders in their counties and then selected by a committee of state leaders.

One of the program participants this year is Jeramie Grissom from Seminole, Texas who was attending his first Southern Peanut Growers Conference this week. Jeramie is carrying on a family tradition in farming and he is in his fourth year farming on his own, raising mainly peanuts, cotton, wheat and milo.

He says he is learning a great deal in the leadership program to help him be a better producer.

Listen to an interview with Jeramie here:

Jeramie Grissom (2:30 min MP3)

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album

Farm Press Peanut Profitability Winners

Three producers from the major peanut growing regions of the country were honored Tuesday morning as the 2008 Peanut Profitability Award Winners, presented by Farm Press/Penton Media and the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation.

Left to right, the winners are William McElveen of Bishopville, SC; Otis Johnson of Seminole, TX; and Mike Nugent of Willacoochie, GA.

Nugent farms 330 acres in the southern part of Georgia and his 2007 crop was the result of a 14-year rotation. His yield was nearly 5,000 pounds per acre and he says main profitability secrets were “management, no-till doesn’t hurt, and watching inputs.”

Listen to an interview with Mike here:

Mike Nugent (2:00 min MP3)

Otis Johnson says producing peanuts profitably in the Texas southern plains demands efficient water management. “Water is a very valuable resource anywhere, but especially in Texas,” he says. “So, using water in agriculture is basically selling water cheap. Otis averaged 6,600 pounds per acre last year on 523 acres, with one 60 acre field making 7,710 pounds.

Listen to an interview with Otis here:

Otis Johnson (2:30 min MP3)

William McElveen is a farming convert who started out in his professional life as a teacher but soon decided to get back to the land to supplement his teaching. As far as profitability is concerned, he doesn’t recommend cost-cutting because “you might cost yourself more money than you’re saving” but he does recommend seeking advice from the experts.

Listen to an interview with William here:

William McElveen (3:30 min MP3)

Be sure to check out the photo album for more pictures of these winners with their supportive spouses and families, as well as the editors and publishers of Farm Press who make this award possible with the help of many peanut industry sponsors.

Southern Peanut Grower Conference Photo Album