Peanut Harvest

Auburn, Sept. 14---A tractor works its way across a sandy Wiregrass peanut field — first digging and then flipping peanut plants upside down to dry in the sun. That's a common sight these days across south Alabama as the state's peanut harvest has begun in earnest.

It's a welcome sight as well to Dallas Hartzog, a peanut agronomist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

"It's good to see farmers harvesting a normal crop," says Hartzog, who is based at the Wiregrass Regional Research and Extension Center in Headland. "The last few years have been awfully hard on the peanut farmer."

Hartzog says this season has been almost a complete opposite of last summer.

"We've really had a different kind of peanut season this year. We have had no days above 100 here at Headland, and during most of the growing season, there has been reasonable amounts of rain."

Richard Petcher, Coffee County Extension agent, calls this year's crop the best he has seen in the 13 years he has worked in Coffee County.

"Some farmers may be looking at yields of 2,700 pounds per acre or maybe even a little higher," says Petcher. "Farmers have a good crop. Now they need some sunny days to get their peanuts dug."

Geneva County Extension Coordinator Mary Baltikauski agrees with Hartzog and Petcher about the potential crop harvest.

"So far, we've seen most fields yield from 2,100 to 2,600 pounds per acre," says Baltikauski. "But we've had a few farmers who have some fields yielding over 3,000 pounds per acre."

The Alabama Agricultural Statistics Service is estimating a state average yield of 2,400 pounds per acre. That would be the best yield statewide in almost 10 years. In 1992, the average yield was just over 2,500 pounds per acre.

Hartzog says this year has also meant more work for the farmer and more money spent on the crop.

"The damp, humid weather we had led to more disease problems," says Hartzog. "They have had to spend more money on fungicide sprays and more time in the fields applying the sprays. But really, that's all part of farming. To make a crop, you have got to do certain things to keep the plants healthy."

Baltikauski adds that in addition to disease problems, weeds have been a bigger problem for farmers than they have been in the last few years.

Hartzog estimates that peanut farmers have about $600 per acre invested in inputs such as seed, fertilizer, fuel and fungicides.

"That figure doesn't take into account the farmer's time or his land costs," says Hartzog. "Farmers need a combination of a good harvest and good prices to pay bills and hopefully, make a profit."

Source: Dallas Hartzog, Extension Agronomist, (334) 693-2010

Richard Petcher, Coffee County Extension Agent, (334) 894-5596

Mary Baultikauski, Geneva County Extension Coordinator, (334) 684-2484