Browse Peanuts Stories - Page 5

Georgia farmers can learn about agricultural research while interacting with University of Georgia scientists during the annual Sunbelt Field Day in Moultrie, Georgia, on Thursday, July 25.

Scientists, students and advisors working on Peanut Innovation Lab projects in Uganda met in late May for a launch meeting in Kampala to celebrate the start of work and share questions and insight about the direction of projects.

The Peanut Innovation Lab is working not only to find the diversity in modern peanut, but also to introduce new diversity from the wild species. These efforts are aimed at helping to improve future peanut varieties – which already adapts well to different climates – become even more resilient to disease, pests and extreme weather.

One big key to improving peanut crop quality and market reliability in Malawi is post-harvest equipment. The Peanut Innovation Lab helped match up the people who want to buy peanuts with Frank Nolin, a retired steel equipment manufacturer who spent his career building equipment for the US peanut industry. By making it possible for buyers to sort nuts for size and quality, Nolin’s equipment allows buyers to separate nuts by grade and reward farmers based on quality, as well as separate groundnuts for sale in different markets.

Before farm-to-table was trendy, scientists and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension personnel in Tifton were taking research from the lab to the farm.

Georgia temperatures are rising, and the weather is only going to get hotter with little rain in the forecast. That’s not good news for Georgia’s cotton producers who are in the middle of planting this year’s crop, says Jared Whitaker, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension cotton agronomist.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has scheduled two insect scouting schools for Georgia’s cotton, peanut and soybean farmers, both set for June.

Agricultural producers in the region damaged most by Hurricane Michael are struggling to recover from this disaster without additional federal assistance, even as the 2019 spring planting season is now fully underway. A recent survey of Cooperative Extension county agents in Florida and Georgia showed that there is a great deal of continued uncertainty about future production in affected areas.

For 100 years, the University of Georgia Tifton campus has been committed to agricultural research that benefits the state of Georgia and the world. As the campus turns the page to its next century, UGA-Tifton is focused on cultivating the next generation of agricultural leaders who will help feed and clothe a growing population.

Frank McGill, 92, affectionally known throughout the Georgia agricultural community as “Mr. Peanut,” received the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Medallion of Honor during a private event on Thursday, May 2, on the UGA Tifton campus.