By Anest/Shutterstock image
By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Peanut Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Peanut Team advise Georgia peanut producers planning for the 2024 season not to base their decision making on what happened in 2023.
Scott Monfort, UGA Extension peanut agronomist, believes last season was an anomaly, a confluence of events that’s not likely to happen again.
“Last year, it seemed like every time we turned around, we got hit with something that it seemed like a little bit of a hill we had to overcome,” Monfort said. “It’s one of those years that I don’t want to see again. Hopefully, if the odds are correct, we shouldn’t see that type of year again. It was awful.
“If I had to try to do one thing that’s important it’s that; don’t use last year. If you tried a bunch of things, don’t go away from them. Try them again. Let’s stay with what we recommend all the time. Peanut is pretty much a recipe type crop. We know what our recommendations are. We know that if we do or stay pretty close to that line of recommendations, we’re going to produce a good crop.”
Recommendations
One of those recommendations that Monfort offers revolves around seed quality, a key component to any year’s success.
“The biggest thing going into planting season from my perspective is don’t be afraid to ask what our seed quality looks like. Am I saying our seed quality is going to be bad? No. Is there potential for some of it to be bad? Yes,” Monfort said. “It just depends how good we can segregate out some of the problems.”
Monfort also emphasizes the importance of watching the weather forecast when considering planting options.
“The other big thing from this past year is, I know we get backed up to the wall because of weather but don’t let weather put you in a bad situation. If it’s wet and cool and the weather (forecast) says I’m going to get even colder and keep getting rain, we’ve got to hold up. Don’t put (the seeds) in situations we know it’s going to get worse,” Monfort said.