ATLANTA — The second week of September was a busy tour time for peanut-growing areas in North and South Carolina this year.

First, the North Carolina Peanut Growers Association (NCPGA) held their Field Day and Annual Meeting at the Peanut Belt Research Station in Lewiston-Woodville, North Carolina. Attendees viewed several plots testing insect, disease and weed management solutions and some exciting innovations in breeding made possible so quickly because of industry investment in peanut genome-related research. After the research field tour, NPB Chairman Paul Rogers and NC Board member Ray Garner provided the crowd with an update on NPB’s activities. Also in attendance was former NPB Chairman Dan Ward and NPB Director of IT and Compliance DeMarquiné Houston.

“By mapping the peanut genome and using marker-assisted selection techniques our peanut breeders can now offer new varieties with improved disease resistance in as little as 7 years,” Ward said. “Before this technology was available, it would sometimes take a breeder 15 years to offer a new variety and it may be 20 years before enough seed was available to plant that variety on a large scale”

The following day, the National Black Grower’s Council held its final field day of the 2023 Model Farm Field Day series. Antron Williams of Mahogany Farms, LLC and a graduate of the Peanut Leadership Academy Class X, hosted the sixth field day stop at his farm in Rowesville, South Carolina. Attendees, including Houston, visited three of Williams’ fields and were able to network and ask questions about technology, conservation, equipment and chemicals to the many representatives who attended and/or demonstrated during the tour stops. Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi also hosted stops on the tour earlier this summer. If you’re interested in attending the 2024 tour, sign up for updates here.

–National Peanut Board