A Busy Week

This has been a busy week for the Peanut Commission.

We celebrated our fiftieth anniversary helping farmers. We had a groundbreaking for a new headquarters. I personally celebrated twenty-five years as the Commission's Executive Director. And, it all happened Monday.

I had a reporter ask me why the new building and why at this time?

Why the new building? The Commission for many years has discussed a location on I-75 but the cost was always out of reach. Then came Tift County and the old State Patrol Post. We negotiated with the County and bought a piece of land which we could afford. You might ask why I-75? 100,000 vehicles a day go past the site of the new headquarters.

The building is going to be traditional in building cost but much more efficient to operate, including the fact that it will be a net zero energy building.

So, Why now? This has been four years in the making to get to this point and if you consider that building costs are actually down because of the current recession the time couldn't be much better.

We will pay for the building with the sale of our current office in town and with grants, sponsorships and a commemorative brick program.

KMC, the makers of peanut harvest equipment was the first to approach the Commission for a sponsorship opportunity. Lanier Carson, Benny Branch, and the whole group at KMC are way more than a corporation, they are community supporters and that certainly includes the peanut community.