It is hard to believe that this is the last day of the first decade of the 2000's. It seems like only yesterday that folks debated when the Millennium actually started. Remember the fear of computers not understanding the year 2000. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter were all a mystery.
Fast forward to 2009. It was a difficult weather year for farmers. Our normal rainfall is about 50 inches in a year and 2009 graced us with over 80 inches of rain and a lot of that was at harvest time. There is still cotton in the fields and the quality and yield is dropping.
Peanut yields were good in most areas but as a farmer told me last week he and his neighbors won't plant peanuts at $425 because there is no money in them. When he figured his taxes he said he paid to grow peanuts. Strangely, he assured me he knows a $525 peanut would cause us to bust the market again.
One bright spot is the new varieties we have. Yields have increased noticeably during the decade of the zeros. I had one farmer tell me he never thought he could have a farm average of 5500 pounds.
I have to hope that the decade of the 10's will take us to yields over three tons and maybe even 7000 pounds for our best producers. The investment growers have made through their checkoff dollars in the breeding programs are certainly paying off.
Ten years ago auto steer tractors were a mere vision. Now they are common place and we may find them even more useful as we look to spraying fungicides at night.
Another bright spot is consumption. Consumption of peanut butter, which is the foundation of our market, has continued to be strong.
It is truly my wish for my farmers that we can have a prosperous year and decade. I am saddened to hear really good farmers talk about the economic hardships they are facing. Remember that farmers feed the world.
God Bless!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
What a Harvest
The harvest season has been quite busy for the Commission as well as the farmers in Georgia.
The Commission has been in the midst of the Georgia Peanut Tour; did a promotion at Talladega at the race; sampled peanuts at peanut festivals in Brooklet, Plains, and Sylvester; had a great exhibit at Sunbelt; participated in peanut butter donations to the food banks with Georgia Farm Bureau, the National Peanut Buying Points, the American Peanut Shellers, and several individuals; did chefs demos at the Georgia National Fair and the Southern Women's Show; have been to several school ag days; participated in the South Campus Tailgate with the College of Ag at the UGA/Kentucky game; had about 300 banks participating in Georgia Peanut Bank Week; participated in the peanut exhibit at the National Peanut Festival; and the list goes on.
All of this while farmers have battled one of the worst harvest seasons in recent years.
I have made several observations in my 24 crops at the Peanut Commission and some have to do with harvest:
1. Rain at harvest time does not improve average yields. Though the late season warmth and rain was a blessing to some this year who were pushed late in planting for those peanuts planted in May the rain at harvest was not a help. Persistent rain and cooler temperatures have helped no-one late in the harvest.
2. Having to use a lifter to get the peanuts back up after they were rained on post digging is an added cost and does not improve yields, though if done right I suppose the damage is minimal.
3. It is hard to dig peanuts out of mud and do a good job of digging and getting the dirt off of the vines and nuts.
4. If by chance you have to re-shake peanuts, harvest losses increase. This may be good for a dove shoot but not for profitability on the farm.
5. Bad dogs have long tails and this harvest sure seems to act like a bad dog with a long tail.
6. Farmers are amazing folks that they can deal with the vagaries of weather and not go absolutely crazy.
7. Peanuts are not the only crops affected by bad weather.
But then as I enter this time of Thanksgiving I am reminded of everything I have to be thankful for. I have my Faith, my family, and my friends. I work in a great and noble industry. Our farmers have never let me go hungry. I am truly blessed.
So as you sit down this Thursday to the feast of the season give thanks for all the blessings and somehow the ills of a bad harvest seem to fall in to perspective. In August I wondered if we would even have a crop to harvest. Stop and thank God for the bounty and thank him for the American Farmer.
Amen.
The Commission has been in the midst of the Georgia Peanut Tour; did a promotion at Talladega at the race; sampled peanuts at peanut festivals in Brooklet, Plains, and Sylvester; had a great exhibit at Sunbelt; participated in peanut butter donations to the food banks with Georgia Farm Bureau, the National Peanut Buying Points, the American Peanut Shellers, and several individuals; did chefs demos at the Georgia National Fair and the Southern Women's Show; have been to several school ag days; participated in the South Campus Tailgate with the College of Ag at the UGA/Kentucky game; had about 300 banks participating in Georgia Peanut Bank Week; participated in the peanut exhibit at the National Peanut Festival; and the list goes on.
All of this while farmers have battled one of the worst harvest seasons in recent years.
I have made several observations in my 24 crops at the Peanut Commission and some have to do with harvest:
1. Rain at harvest time does not improve average yields. Though the late season warmth and rain was a blessing to some this year who were pushed late in planting for those peanuts planted in May the rain at harvest was not a help. Persistent rain and cooler temperatures have helped no-one late in the harvest.
2. Having to use a lifter to get the peanuts back up after they were rained on post digging is an added cost and does not improve yields, though if done right I suppose the damage is minimal.
3. It is hard to dig peanuts out of mud and do a good job of digging and getting the dirt off of the vines and nuts.
4. If by chance you have to re-shake peanuts, harvest losses increase. This may be good for a dove shoot but not for profitability on the farm.
5. Bad dogs have long tails and this harvest sure seems to act like a bad dog with a long tail.
6. Farmers are amazing folks that they can deal with the vagaries of weather and not go absolutely crazy.
7. Peanuts are not the only crops affected by bad weather.
But then as I enter this time of Thanksgiving I am reminded of everything I have to be thankful for. I have my Faith, my family, and my friends. I work in a great and noble industry. Our farmers have never let me go hungry. I am truly blessed.
So as you sit down this Thursday to the feast of the season give thanks for all the blessings and somehow the ills of a bad harvest seem to fall in to perspective. In August I wondered if we would even have a crop to harvest. Stop and thank God for the bounty and thank him for the American Farmer.
Amen.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Never Satisfied
No this is not what my wife tells me, it is how I am about the weather right now.
We had rain when we needed to plant so then that meant our harvest would be late because planting was.
We needed late season rains and warm weather and we have had that of recent.
Now we need it to quit raining and dry up and stay warm. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the near term forecast.
Except for an occasional shower to make the ground ripe to dig peanuts, I would be happy for the rain to stop now and wait until harvest is complete before starting back.
Much more of this will cost us yield and money.
We had rain when we needed to plant so then that meant our harvest would be late because planting was.
We needed late season rains and warm weather and we have had that of recent.
Now we need it to quit raining and dry up and stay warm. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the near term forecast.
Except for an occasional shower to make the ground ripe to dig peanuts, I would be happy for the rain to stop now and wait until harvest is complete before starting back.
Much more of this will cost us yield and money.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Association for Dressings and Sauces
I had the opportunity to speak to the ADS membership on crisis management at their annual meeting this past weekend. They have a small but seemingly active group and many of their members also have a peanut interest.
Every time I review what we went through earlier this year I become more and more convinced that there need to be severe penalties for those, on whom the evidence is conclusive were malicious bad actors. The converse of that needs to be that when the Government makes a mistake because they didn't have all the facts, as happened in the tomato scare, the government should have to compensate those injured to the extent of their injuries.
The best crisis management plan is to do a good job and never have a crisis to deal with.
We produce a food product and from the farm supplier to the supermarket must keep the consumer in our focus.
To that end we are working on a food safety certification program for farmers. It would work somewhat like the current system for acquiring and maintaining a pesticide license. It is truly my belief that this approach of education and certification is far better than a regulatory approach which should always be a last resort in making gains toward even greater food safety.
Every time I review what we went through earlier this year I become more and more convinced that there need to be severe penalties for those, on whom the evidence is conclusive were malicious bad actors. The converse of that needs to be that when the Government makes a mistake because they didn't have all the facts, as happened in the tomato scare, the government should have to compensate those injured to the extent of their injuries.
The best crisis management plan is to do a good job and never have a crisis to deal with.
We produce a food product and from the farm supplier to the supermarket must keep the consumer in our focus.
To that end we are working on a food safety certification program for farmers. It would work somewhat like the current system for acquiring and maintaining a pesticide license. It is truly my belief that this approach of education and certification is far better than a regulatory approach which should always be a last resort in making gains toward even greater food safety.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Nutty Stuffed Chops
½ cup salted roasted peanuts, very finely chopped
1 cup packed raw spinach, chopped
4 oz. crumbled blue cheese
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
6 boneless 1” thick pork chops
6 slices bacon
Stand pork chops on edge and cut a slit lengthwise to make a pocket for the stuffing. Fill pocket with the peanut, spinach, and blue cheese mixture. Wrap bacon around the edge of the pork chop, covering slit. Secure with toothpicks.
Cook in covered cast iron dutch oven over medium high heat for 22 minutes turning occasionally to insure uniform cooking.
1 cup packed raw spinach, chopped
4 oz. crumbled blue cheese
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
6 boneless 1” thick pork chops
6 slices bacon
Stand pork chops on edge and cut a slit lengthwise to make a pocket for the stuffing. Fill pocket with the peanut, spinach, and blue cheese mixture. Wrap bacon around the edge of the pork chop, covering slit. Secure with toothpicks.
Cook in covered cast iron dutch oven over medium high heat for 22 minutes turning occasionally to insure uniform cooking.
God Looks Out for Fools, Little Children, and Farmers
I am pretty well convinced that the current weather has been more a blessing than a curse to the peanut farmers of Georgia.
We had said all along we needed it to be wet through the first part of October and rains were pretty general earlier this week. We also wanted it to be warmer than normal and with highs in the 90's that is coming true.
If we could get this next rain this weekend and then stay frost free for several weeks it would go a long way toward making a crop in Georgia.
Maybe we can make 3500 pounds but if we do then you had better believe that miracles do happen.
We had said all along we needed it to be wet through the first part of October and rains were pretty general earlier this week. We also wanted it to be warmer than normal and with highs in the 90's that is coming true.
If we could get this next rain this weekend and then stay frost free for several weeks it would go a long way toward making a crop in Georgia.
Maybe we can make 3500 pounds but if we do then you had better believe that miracles do happen.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Back in the Test Kitchen
I was back in the test kitchen today and finished the testing on my stuffed pork chop recipe I am using at the GA National Fair and the Southern Women's Show in Jacksonville.
It is stuffed with finely chopped peanuts, chopped spinach, and blue cheese crumbles. Then you wrap it with bacon, covering the pocket and stuffing and hold that in place with two round toothpicks (flat toothpicks are worthless for this and other purposes including picking your teeth.)
I cooked them in a cast iron dutch oven on medium high for 22 minutes turning several times during cooking to keep them from getting done on the outside before the inside was done. I kept the dutch oven covered while cooking.
I served it today with cranberry-nut couscous (you know it has coarsely chopped peanuts in it), steamed green beans, and a spoon of whole berry cranberry sauce.
We should have the recipe for the chop in print some time tomorrow.
Here is the picture to make your mouth water. Let me know what you think?
It is stuffed with finely chopped peanuts, chopped spinach, and blue cheese crumbles. Then you wrap it with bacon, covering the pocket and stuffing and hold that in place with two round toothpicks (flat toothpicks are worthless for this and other purposes including picking your teeth.)
I cooked them in a cast iron dutch oven on medium high for 22 minutes turning several times during cooking to keep them from getting done on the outside before the inside was done. I kept the dutch oven covered while cooking.
I served it today with cranberry-nut couscous (you know it has coarsely chopped peanuts in it), steamed green beans, and a spoon of whole berry cranberry sauce.
We should have the recipe for the chop in print some time tomorrow.
Here is the picture to make your mouth water. Let me know what you think?
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