Peanut educational efforts in Irwin and Ben Hill county, Georgia

Abstract

Peanuts are an important agronomic crop to Irwin and Ben Hill County with nearly 20,000 acres grown in Irwin County and 5,000 in Ben Hill County annually. Maintaining peanut profitability and quality is a major concern for farmers. Production issues such as variety selection, herbicide usage, efficient and effective fungicide programs, tillage choices, crop budget planning, pest management, improving peanut harvest timing, production efficiency, maintaining crop rotation, earlier planting dates, safe pesticide usage, accurate calibration, and irrigation are all constant concerns. The county agents’ objectives are to plan and provide ample educational opportunities to peanut farmers, the agricultural community and consumers through numerous and diverse methods. Issues are addressed through production meetings, office and farm visits, phone contacts, area meetings, email, newsletters, news articles, on-farm applied research trials, hull scrape maturity clinics, and similar activities. A successful peanut crop means money is filtered through the local economy numerous times and impacts agricultural and non-agricultural businesses in both communities.