Last week peanut contracts were offered at $600 and the response by farmers was mixed.
It seems that it may have gotten some peanuts in the SW part of the state which were already likely to be planted locked down by shellers. In East and Southeast Georgia it really didn't move the needle much. This area seems to have an advantage of cotton over peanuts and so it was going to take more than that to compete with cotton.
In Coffee County the County Agent did an informal survey of the growers in a local meeting and found that the $600 had no impact and that those growers are still leaning cotton. As the Agent told me $1.22 cotton is much better to my growers than $600 peanuts so they are going where the opportunity exists.
On a largely related note the local weatherman says our moisture situation right now is worse than it was this time in 2007. We are going in to this crop with a pretty serious rainfall deficit and with our ponds at low levels. Considering the requirement that cotton when contracted must be delivered cotton will compete greatly for irrigated acres and we could see dryland peanuts increase in percentage.
At this point we all know 2011 is going to be an interesting year but I am about to think that we can now anticipate the same of 2012, especially if cotton prices hold for another year.
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