By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Peanut Commission celebrated the return of the Georgia Peanut Tour this month. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the tour returned to South Georgia and involved farmers, industry leaders and those just wanting to know more about agriculture.
Joe Boddiford, chairman of the board for the Georgia Peanut Commission, discussed the importance of the Tour’s return this year.
“It’s obviously critically important that we continue this tour. We’ve had a lot of success over the years. Unfortunately, covid put some stumbling blocks in our way the last couple of years. But here we are (this year) with a good crowd. I think we’ve got over 200 registered for this tour,” said Boddiford, who produces 550 acres with his son in Screven County. “One thing is we’ve reached out and have some school teachers here. We hope to get them more informed about peanuts, peanut production and of course, agriculture. It’s just a great opportunity to expand the information to help people understand where our food supply comes from and some of the issues that are involved in it.”
Tour Details
The educational initiative that the Georgia Peanut Tour incorporates in its message every year focuses on the production aspect of peanuts. How is it produced? When is it harvested? How is it graded? All are components of a producer’s gameplan every year that most consumers are not aware of.
“We need to broaden that message and get it out to more people so they do understand. I’m afraid there’s too many consumers in the world that think their food comes from Publix or Krogers. It has to start on the land. We’re the farmers,” Boddiford said.