By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Peanut Commission’s (GPC) recent approval of $795,205 for research funding signals its emphasis for the state’s growers to remain sustainable now and into the future.
Donald Chase, GPC Research Committee chairman, talks about the importance of the funding. It includes 36 project proposals submitted from the University of Georgia, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Fort Valley State University and the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.
“If there is something that comes out then we need to be planning for it. There’s a couple of really cool things that our researchers are doing, and we want to be a part of that,” Chase said. “We don’t really change too much from year to year. We’re going to continue to fund good projects. I think it’s really providing seed money for researchers to look into things that seem, in our opinion, areas for us to study.”
The funding is for the 2022-23 research budget year.
Georgia’s peanut growers invest $2 per ton annually toward GPC programs. These include research, promotion and education. The programs focus on peanut breeding, conservation methods, irrigation and water management, as well as pests, weed and disease management.