Monday, June 25, 2012

What a Year of Diversity and Perhaps Adversity

Peanuts were planted from Mid March to June this year. The market was terribly uncertain at planting but other markets were as bad or worse. Some farmers had 20/20 hindsight and planted without a contract. In Georgia and the Southeast there are a lot of peanuts planted. Stands range from bad to excellent. Today we are feeling a tropical rain in June which will be especially beneficial to those March planted peanuts. The peanut industry seems to have varying opinions as to what happens with a large crop and frankly it is a long way from being done. A large crop and low prices at harvest will take care of itself with lower plantings in 2013. It is the roller coaster of the free market.

Couple all this with the uncertainty of a farm bill which is still largely unknown and hopefully will end up with a safety net for southern farmers which is non-existent in the Senate version of the bill which passed last week...the ride will get to be interesting.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Beneficial rains came to most of the peanut belt in Georgia over the past two weeks but we are still in a drought situation because subsoil moistures are limited.

Still with the apparent increase in acres the market is sluggish and is counting on the new varieties performing beyond expectations for another year. The reality is the new varieties have not been tested under more normal conditions as a whole so if the rainfall were to continue we might see the full potential.

Baker County, Georgia last year had a county average of about 5200 pounds which heretofore has been unheard of.

The shelled good market will not currently support a $750 which many growers got a piece of early on so contracting was a good decision. Shellers who have not sold forward to cover those positions may be wishing the crop would be tight again this year.

Stands as a rule were pretty good which is unusual given the difficult situation finding quality seed. The Georgia Department of Ag seed lab in Tifton had record numbers of peanuts sampled and apparently the shellers found enough quality seed to meet the demand for their customers.