The first question at this year’s Farm Press Peanut Efficiency Award (PEA) winner Q&A panel was from University of Georgia plant pathologist Bob Kemerait. He asked Baker, Fla. farmer Shannon Nixon about his unconventional practice of rotating peanuts with soybeans. 

The panel was held during the 2024 PEA breakfast in Savannah, Ga., July 19 during the Southern Peanut Growers Conference and facilitated by PEA coordinator Marshall Lamb, research leader, USDA National Peanut Laboratory.  

Kemerait emphasized that readers want to hear from farmers on what’s working, and that university recommendations are guidance rather than directives.  

“If you have every grower that reads this publication and now says ‘I want to be like Shannon. I want to grow soybeans in rotations with peanuts because Shannon did it, and he’s smarter than Bob,’ what would be your commentary to those growers who want to do this and be successful like you?” Kemerait asked. 

“I do not endorse doing what I’m doing. In all seriousness I feel like we’ve been forced into something that we don’t like because cotton does not work for us anymore for various reasons. Sometimes you don’t have any options. Make the best of a bad situation. We were losing $200 or $300 an acre on cotton, and cotton is a great rotation,” Nixon said. 

Related:Farm Press celebrates 25th class of peanut efficiency winners

Disease problems and cover crops 

Other PEA winners on the Q&A panel were Kevin and Drew Monahan of Waverly, Va., the Upper Southeast winners; Milton and Drew Parrish of Lexington, Miss., the Delta winners; and Jesse Dyck of Denver City, Texas, the Southwest winner. 

They were asked about their use of cover crops. 

“I do think cover crops work for us. We have some good soils, but we also have some erodible land.  In Baker, Florida we don’t get showers, we get floods. We can get a five-inch rain. Without those cover crops we’re going to lose a lot of soil. As far as mitigating diseases is concerned, I don’t know. I have more questions about cover crops that I have answers. Without the incentives, we’d probably still do it,” Nixon said. 

Kevin Monahan said cover crops help with soil erosion and soil compaction on their Virginia farm. Drew Parrish also cited the erosion and fertility benefits of cover crops but noted that cover crops are a challenge in peanuts due to their late peanut harvest.  

“It seems we don’t have enough time to get it going before the weather changes and winter gets here so we’re going to try some new strategies, maybe plant a cover crop in front of the digger this year.  I don’t really know how it will work. I’m still learning about cover crops. I know it’s helping with erosion and a few other things. We’re new to cover crops, and we’re trying a lot of new things,” Drew Parrish said. 

Dyck said his family doesn’t use cover crops on their peanuts. “We like clean fields. But we use cover crops for all the rest of our ground because we’re lucky if we catch a rain. We’re very dry. We have some sandy fields, and we get a lot of wind. To keep our sand there, that’s what we use our cover crops for,” Dyck said.  

Nixon and Drew Parrish said white mold is their major disease worry. Drew Monahan cited leaf spot as their top disease concern. Dyck noted that pod rot is their major concern in peanuts because diseases can’t survive in their dry Texas climate. 

Thoughts on family farming 

The future of family farming also came up during the Q&A. 

“I got into farming because I probably didn’t know any better because I wanted to drive tractors, but in order to drive tractors you had to go through all of the other stuff. My concern is my son wants to farm. He probably has the most passion for farming of anybody I know,” Nixon said. 

“Our biggest problem is I don’t see how he’s going to be able to do it in Okaloosa County Florida because the urban expansion has priced farmland out. You cannot buy farmland in Okaloosa County Florida and pay for it farming.”  

Kevin Monahan said he is fortunate to be a fifth-generation farmer working with his two sons. “I think it’s important to hope that they can carry on this legacy of taking care of the land and being successful in producing peanuts and other crops.”  

Drew Monahan noted that he and his brother Brad have sat in tractor seats from a young age. 

 “It was pretty well decided what we were going to be doing. I never really had any desire to do anything else. When I graduated from high school, I really wanted to just go straight to the farm and mom and dad did tell me I was going to at least go to college and so something else for awhile before going straight to work on the farm which was a good call,” Drew Monahan said.  

Milton Parrish said he had a rule for his sons Drew and Daniel: Get your education and go work somewhere. If you still want to come back and farm after you’ve done that, there will be a place for you. He said Drew came back and hit the ground running. “I’m very proud of him.” Daniel Parrish chose to work off the farm. 

Dyck said growing up on a farm, he fell in love with it. “It’s just hard to get away. It’s one of those businesses where you can take your kids with you and show them stuff and drive a tractor. You don’t get to do that in other businesses.”