I have been in Europe, actually Belgium and Holland this week. I flew out of Atlanta Saturday and arrived in Brussels Sunday. We met Monday and Tuesday with a company which manufactures sorting and scanning equipment and then Wednesday with the Ag Ambassador to the EU.
Today we met with the head buyer for Duyvis which is one of our best customers in Europe. They are owned by Pepsico.
I am tired and so glad to be going home but I dread the 10 hour flight and customs and all and then still having to drive home. I am already tired and that should about do me in.
I miss my whole family.
Saturday is Cole's birthday party so I should see them all there, except Mama and Daddy and siblings and all.
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Visit to Duyvis
We visited Duyvis in Holland today. They are one of the biggest if not the biggest customers in Europe. They are a Pepsico brand that does snack nuts, especially a lot of cracker coated nuts. They are really good and it is a shame that noone in the US has tried marketing them. I believe the US market would accept them, especially young people.
We return home tomorrow. It has been a hard trip and by tomorrow night it will have been a long week. I am really ready to get home and hope I can make it home tomorrow night after we get to Atlanta. It is tough driving alone after so long up and ten hours on a plane.
We return home tomorrow. It has been a hard trip and by tomorrow night it will have been a long week. I am really ready to get home and hope I can make it home tomorrow night after we get to Atlanta. It is tough driving alone after so long up and ten hours on a plane.
Monday, August 11, 2008
BEST Xray Project
We were at the BEST factory in Belgium all day today. They make several types of sorting equipment and it is pretty interesting how well they can identify different things and sort them. They can sort recyclable garbage, seperate snakes and rats from lettuce, and for some time have been working with laser sorting to seperate foreign material and aflatoxin from peanuts.
More recently, they have started working with an industry committee on grading to develop paramaters which would allow an x-ray machine they manufacture to be used to grade peanuts.
These guys are good at what they can do if we can ever decide as an industry what it is we want to sample for.
I really dreaded this trip but I certainly am happy now I made it because there has been some very serious and good discussion spawned by our visit to BEST.
Here Bjorn Tumas of Belgium Electornic Sorting Technologies (BEST) explains a laser sorter to Randall Taylor with Georgia FSIS, Jack Chastain of Doster Warehouse, and Joe Boddiford of the Georgia Peanut Commission.
More recently, they have started working with an industry committee on grading to develop paramaters which would allow an x-ray machine they manufacture to be used to grade peanuts.
These guys are good at what they can do if we can ever decide as an industry what it is we want to sample for.
I really dreaded this trip but I certainly am happy now I made it because there has been some very serious and good discussion spawned by our visit to BEST.
Here Bjorn Tumas of Belgium Electornic Sorting Technologies (BEST) explains a laser sorter to Randall Taylor with Georgia FSIS, Jack Chastain of Doster Warehouse, and Joe Boddiford of the Georgia Peanut Commission.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Crop Situation
I was talking with Mr. Frank McGill the other day and he told me he planted peanuts on Friday the 13th of June. Now that is late for a man who when he was in his prime as UGA's Mr. Peanut, followed the research ( and properly so at the time) recommendation of April 15th.
The next day I was speaking with a farmer near Hawkinsville who told me they had a lot of peanuts planted in the county in April again this year. Some of the new varieties with greater TSWV resistance may allow earlier plantings though that is not currently recommended.
I noticed peanuts in many stages today on my trip from Tifton to Cordele. Some are not lapping and others were wilting which would indicate that they are in full pod set. It was hot and rains have been very irregular. Friday night Tifton got 2.5 inches and TyTy just seven miles away got about a half inch. Those variations are common and if I were to say where soil moisture is at this time it is critical in most places and subsoil moisture is non-existent in many places so it is rainfall to rainfall if the peanuts are not irrigated.
We need a good tropical storm in September for those June peanuts but it needs to miss the early planted fields which will be ready to harvest.
The next day I was speaking with a farmer near Hawkinsville who told me they had a lot of peanuts planted in the county in April again this year. Some of the new varieties with greater TSWV resistance may allow earlier plantings though that is not currently recommended.
I noticed peanuts in many stages today on my trip from Tifton to Cordele. Some are not lapping and others were wilting which would indicate that they are in full pod set. It was hot and rains have been very irregular. Friday night Tifton got 2.5 inches and TyTy just seven miles away got about a half inch. Those variations are common and if I were to say where soil moisture is at this time it is critical in most places and subsoil moisture is non-existent in many places so it is rainfall to rainfall if the peanuts are not irrigated.
We need a good tropical storm in September for those June peanuts but it needs to miss the early planted fields which will be ready to harvest.
Being Clear on APRES Comments
My stated disappointment over the APRES conflict with the Southern Peanut Growers Conference was not aimed at the UGA peanut team or UGA. Frankly it was just disappointment in the situation. My Blog generated a lot of discussion. I received a visit to my office and my Chairman was cornered at church on the issue. It was even discussed with me at a Monday night Ice Cream Social at my church.
I am glad the discussion has been generated.
The most valid point that was made came in the visit to my office. It was pointed out that if they had to make a choice APRES was more critical to the UGA peanut team doing their job with the County Agents than attendance at the growers conference. That is exactly my point, this choice should never be one they have to make.
Now you have to understand something about the timing of the Conference. We have a lot of farmers wives who teach school and many of them are now having to be back the third week of July to prepare for classes to start. We are having the conference about as late as we can. The only other choice is earlier which puts us around the 4th of July or even in June and that is a terrible time for farmers to get away from the farm.
I heard a farmer at the Conference say his cost was $400,000 more than last year. He needs every resource to find a solution to that situation or he will be farming up all his equity. Prices haven't kept up with costs.
Ending on a positive note, the new Executive Director of APRES is coming on the Georgia Peanut Tour and wants to sit down and visit with us. I get the feeling he understands the situation and
communication will certainly get us a long way down the road.
I am glad the discussion has been generated.
The most valid point that was made came in the visit to my office. It was pointed out that if they had to make a choice APRES was more critical to the UGA peanut team doing their job with the County Agents than attendance at the growers conference. That is exactly my point, this choice should never be one they have to make.
Now you have to understand something about the timing of the Conference. We have a lot of farmers wives who teach school and many of them are now having to be back the third week of July to prepare for classes to start. We are having the conference about as late as we can. The only other choice is earlier which puts us around the 4th of July or even in June and that is a terrible time for farmers to get away from the farm.
I heard a farmer at the Conference say his cost was $400,000 more than last year. He needs every resource to find a solution to that situation or he will be farming up all his equity. Prices haven't kept up with costs.
Ending on a positive note, the new Executive Director of APRES is coming on the Georgia Peanut Tour and wants to sit down and visit with us. I get the feeling he understands the situation and
communication will certainly get us a long way down the road.
Monday, July 28, 2008
WTO Doha Round
If you liked all that the previous trade agreements did for you then you will be enamoured by what the Bush Administration has in store for you now. Friday night they agreed to a bad deal because they didn't want to see the negotiations collapse. In the deal the US agreed to make serious cuts in support and serious reductions in import tariffs. What did we get in return? By all reports not much if anything except being able to say they got an agreement. I just cannot understand why a country as big and strong as the United States can't just sometimes say no?
Thankfully, the Chinese and Indians are not buying this deal so maybe it will fall apart. If not you better hang on for dear life.
Thankfully, the Chinese and Indians are not buying this deal so maybe it will fall apart. If not you better hang on for dear life.
22nd Anniversary
It is hard to believe that on Friday I will celebrate my 22nd anniversary at the Georgia Peanut Commission. A lot has happened in that 22 years. The 2 row pull type combine was the harvester of choice. There were Longs, Hustlers, Lillistons, and KMCs. The predominant variety was florunner and some GK 7's and Southern Runners came on soon after. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus was not a topic of discussion. Pigweed had not yet discovered that they could become resistant to herbicides. Peanut allergy had not found its way in to the media or politics. Diesel was cheaper than gas. We had one fungicide of choice, Bravo. In the office we had one computer. We had eleven full time positions and two student workers working in the mail room.
Jump ahead 22 years. The Mariners just put peanut free sections in a ball park. We dig with guidance systems and pick with 6 and 8 row pickers some of which some are self propelled. We are spraying a host of different fungicides and now doing it at night? At last count we had 15 serious peanut varieties with at least some level of seed supply. We have 8 employees at the Commission that do more than eleven because of technology advances. Fuel costs are crushing farmers like a giant stepping on an ant. And, nobody planned for weeds that there is no way to kill, especially one that produces nearly a half million seeds that can remain viable int he ground for a hundred years.
If I ever did worry that there would be no more need for a Peanut Commission and that maybe I would work myself out of a job, it sure hasn't happened yet. Frankly, I cannot think of anything I would rather have been doing for the past 22 years. I am privileged to have had this opportunity in life.
Jump ahead 22 years. The Mariners just put peanut free sections in a ball park. We dig with guidance systems and pick with 6 and 8 row pickers some of which some are self propelled. We are spraying a host of different fungicides and now doing it at night? At last count we had 15 serious peanut varieties with at least some level of seed supply. We have 8 employees at the Commission that do more than eleven because of technology advances. Fuel costs are crushing farmers like a giant stepping on an ant. And, nobody planned for weeds that there is no way to kill, especially one that produces nearly a half million seeds that can remain viable int he ground for a hundred years.
If I ever did worry that there would be no more need for a Peanut Commission and that maybe I would work myself out of a job, it sure hasn't happened yet. Frankly, I cannot think of anything I would rather have been doing for the past 22 years. I am privileged to have had this opportunity in life.
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