Shannon Nixon cut through the wheat stubble with the strip rig on a late-May morning. Jacob, his son, planted their soybeans behind him. They planted peanuts in the same field last year, and they will plant peanuts in the field next season. Nixon knows his peanut-soybean crop rotation isn’t conventional, maybe even frowned upon, but the system has proven to be a sound economic decision, so far.

“Some may hear how we do things and shake their heads. Some already do. And we don’t claim to have all the answers, or any answers really. But let me put it this way, we had to change how we did things on our farm to remain in business,” Nixon said.

For growing high-yielding, quality peanuts with an intensive management approach, Nixon and his family are the 2024 Farm Press Peanut Efficiency Award winners from the lower Southeast.

Nixon grows 800 acres of soybeans and peanuts around Baker, Fla., located on the western side of the panhandle, known for intense rainfall, flash droughts and tropical storms, but also good dirt with good production potential.

Shift to soybeans

Nixon is easy to talk, smile and joke, but make no bones about it, he is thoughtful and passionate about farming and its future on and off his farm.

Nixon planted cotton for several decades, but he planted his last cotton four years ago.

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“Cotton is important for a lot of farmers, but we just couldn’t keep growing it. We could make the yields most years, but with the prices, we couldn’t make it economically work out. We had to find an alternative rotational option for our peanuts, which have been helping us pay the bills. We looked at corn but that was just too risky for us,” he said.

A decade ago, Nixon began ‘experimenting’ on small scale with a soybean and peanut rotation. Four years ago, after quitting cotton, he began fully rotating soybeans with his peanuts. And he honed his own way to incorporate the two legumes into his fields. The primary focus is moving the least amount of dirt, along with season-long precision timing, or as much precision as nature will allow.

Each year, he shoots for at least a 5,000-pound per acre peanut average. Last year, he averaged 5,617 pounds per acre on 301 acres of non-irrigated peanuts. His average peanut grade was 73.4 with 1.6 LSK average. 

“Our area turned off very dry in August last year and that hurt a lot of our growers badly. We caught a few showers that really helped us finish off the peanuts,” he said.

Last year after harvest, he drilled in wheat for cover, and he used the same tractor pattern across his fields as he does each year to limit soil disturbance. He took grid samples to dial in fertility, which included quarter ton of lime, 80 pounds of DAP, 160 pounds of potash and a half a pound of boron. 

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He burned down the cover in early spring. On the first of May, Nixon started planting the 12Y peanut variety, known for an excellent disease package, in a 36-inch, twin-row pattern. He placed the 36-inch pattern furrow 18 inches away from the previous year’s furrow, which had soybeans planted in it.

He placed Thimet and Velum in furrow, along with an inoculant. He uses New Holland tractors and John Deere planters.

Staying ahead

Though his crop rotation falls outside Extension recommendations, Nixon is a firm follower of Peanut Rx, developed by land-grant university peanut specialists to help farmers mitigate diseases. 

“With our cropping system, we have to make sure we stay on top of everything else to limit disease and pest pressure,” he said.

He maintains a two-week fungicide spray regimen. “We watch weather forecasts closely. If we see a possibility for rain, we get out there early even if it’s two days or more, to make sure we stay on time and ahead of leaf spot, which if you let get out of control here, it’s like a wildfire. You’re not going to catch up with it,” he said.

Related:Team approach brings efficiency for Monahan family

For fungicides, last year he used Praize, Elatus, Alto, Provost Silver and Absolute Maxx.

Along with staying ahead of diseases, Nixon keeps his fields clean with a timely, no-skimping weed management system.

He also applied 11 ounces of Apogee to regulate plant growth.

After peanut harvest this year, he will drill his wheat cover. And next year, plant soybeans down the center of the twin-row peanut furrows he planted this year. He averages between 50 bushels to 60 bushels per acre on his soybeans.

Jennifer Bearden is the University of Florida Extension agricultural agent in Okaloosa County and has known and worked with Nixon for many years.

“Shannon is a great farmer,” she said.  “He's pretty humble about it. Despite enjoying talking and cutting up, he doesn't like to be the center of attention.

“The peanut-soybean rotation is not ideal, however, given commodity prices, there aren't many great options.  Shannon is making lemonade out of the lemons with this.  We are all hoping to not have lemons in the future,” she said. “He's moving rows each year and trying to mitigate any issues such as nematodes in this rotation.  He doesn't skimp on necessary fertilizers or crop protectants.  He also is as timely as humanly possible in giving the crop what it needs.  He stresses greatly over this.  It's not a rotation that I would recommend to a farmer unless I know that they will do everything else correctly like Shannon is doing.”

Aside from finding ways to keep row crop farming, Nixon is concerned about the price of farmland in his area. It has skyrocketed, and people are selling.

“You could say it’s a sustainability issue,” he said. “Farmland is being taken out of farming and being placed into development. And I think if farmland is zoned agricultural, it should remain as productive farmland for future generations.  Because once we lose it, we are not getting it back.”

Family

Nixon has been married 33 years to Michelle, who is a schoolteacher. They have Chris, 30, and his daughter, Charlotte, who is two. Jacob, 28, is the middle child and married to Katelyn. Ashley, 26, is the Nixon’s youngest. 

In addition to row cropping, the Nixons annually produce a corn maze and fall festivities and activities for local residents, which includes several student field trips to the farm. Nixon has also been an avid pilot for more than two decades.

Back in the soybean field after a rarely taken lunch break, Shannon and Jacob readied the stripper and the planter to continue planting the 2024 soybean crop.

“I’m not the best farmer,” Shannon said. “I’m not even the best farmer in our area. But our system is working for us right now and keeping us in business for at least another year. Could this year be the one where it all blows up in our faces and we take the hit we can’t manage? I don’t know. Like they say in piloting, if you run into trouble, fly the plane as far as you can into the crash. Don’t close your eyes and don’t give up until you hit the ground. You have a lot better chance of survival if you do that.”