Peanut Grower

At the Southern Peanut Grower’s Convention, the Valor Award was presented by Valent, USA and John Alton. The definition of Valor means “Great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle.” The 2026 Valor Award recipient was Don Koehler, Senior Executive Director of the Georgia Peanut Commission. Don was recognized for nearly four decades of leadership on behalf of peanut growers and the U.S. peanut industry.

David Jordan NORTH CAROLINA This time of year, a major focus is on preparing and entering the harvest season. One of the most important decisions is related to when to start digging and inverting vines. Determining the maturity of pods, a reflection of the maturity of kernels and their weight, is one of the pieces of information to consider when scheduling a field for digging. Extension services around the country can provide you with maturity profile charts that can help with this decision.

Zane Grabau The summer row crop season is well underway, which also means that hotspots of damage from plant-parasitic nematodes are also appearing. While a few fields with patches of nematode damage is seemingly inevitable, that does not make it any less frustrating, especially if you’ve invested in a nematicide application for the field. This article describes why there may be nematode damage even after nematicide application and action steps for future crops. Figure 1.

THE NATIONAL PEANUT BOARD Dee Dee with some of the inaugural National Peanut Board members The National Peanut Board (NPB) is mourning the loss of former board member and chair Dee Dee Darden, who passed away on July 7 after a four-year battle with cancer. A Virginia peanut farmer, Dee Dee served on the National Peanut Board from 2000 to 2005 and chaired the Board in 2004. As one of NPB’s original leaders, she was a trailblazer whose influence extended far beyond agriculture.

Written by David Jordan I was recently asked what are the ramifications of excessive rain on peanuts this time of year? The context was 15 inches of rain over a two-week period of time in late July and early August. Peanuts during this phase of the crop are in the pod fill stage of development if planted in May. Peanuts are resilient, but this much water can take a toll. Here are possible factors that will likely impact peanut yield and market grade characteristics.

By Ross Greene, UGA Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent, Candler and Evans Counties, Wesley M. Porter, Extension Precision Ag and Irrigation Specialist, and Sarah Beth Thompson Editor’s Note: This article updates a July 2025 blog post, “Don’t Let Peanuts Get Dry in July” and a UGA Extension resource, “Mid-Season Irrigation Tips for July Peanuts, with current recommendations and observations for the 2026 peanut growing season. This season has been especially tough.

Written by Mark Abney I consider August the beginning of the home stretch for Georgia’s peanut crop, and it is often the month when we see increased pressure from a variety of insect pests. Some things to think about as we reach mid-August. Tomato spotted wilt incidence appears to be at below average levels. This is good news. Even if we begin to see more TSWV symptoms in August and September, these late season infections are rarely associated with significant yield loss.

Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is asking selected producers to complete the USDA’s annual County Agricultural Production Survey (CAPS). Information reported through the survey helps USDA produce the nation’s only official yearly county crop estimates.

2026 NPB board members and staff U.S. peanut growers on the National Peanut Board (NPB) unanimously approved the proposed fiscal year 2027 (FY-27) Program of Work and $13.1 million budget during the 2026 Board Meeting that took place from July 27 – 30 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Building on the strong progress of FY-26, representatives of peanut-growing states aligned on the organization’s strategic direction for the fiscal year that will begin November 1, 2026.

Authored by:  , UF/IFAS Peanut Breeder & Interim NFREC Director For the past several years, I have been wondering if tomato spotted wilt has “left our region.”  Of course, I know it has not, but we certainly have not observed the severe outbreaks in recent years that were more common 20-30 years ago. This year, one of my students asked about planting some of our old cultivars intermingled with our new cultivars. And voilà, we have the answer to the question.