Like many other crops in the Southern U.S., peanuts took a hit from the high temperatures and drought in the region late last summer.

U.S. peanut producers planted 1.6 million acres of peanuts in 2023, an increase of 12.9% over the previous year. But according to Bob Parker, president and CEO of the National Peanut Board, weather conditions knocked about 150 pounds off this year’s yield.

“The latest yield estimate by USDA is 3,740 pounds per acre compared to 3,905 pounds per acre on Oct. 1, Parker said during a peanut outlook meeting held Nov. 30. “That yield would be, if it materializes, approximately 6.5% lower than the yield in 2022.”

Parker noted that the Nov. 1 USDA harvest estimates of 2,994,000 short tons does not yet include about 50,000 tons of peanuts produced in Missouri, which would make total U.S. harvest slightly over 3 million short tons.

“We have an increase of 12.9% in acres in plantings, a decrease in average yield of 6.5%,” he said. “We do have a substantially higher [total] yield because of the plantings.”

As a result, the total yield for 2023 is still likely to top the 2022 yield total of 2.8 million tons.

Uncooperative weather

The 2023 crop was affected by a number of issues, the most obvious of which was extreme weather.

Casey Cox-Kerr raises peanuts with her family in South Georgia. Cool weather on her farm in Camilla, Ga., prevented her from getting her peanuts in on time this fall.

“We had some rain delays and actually planted later than we ever have this year,” Cox-Kerr said. “So our last couple of fields were much further in the window than what we're accustomed to.”

The fields that she was able to plant on time had better yields than the fields that were planted later and were less able to manage the heat and drought. Her fields are 100% irrigated, which may have helped to mitigate the effects of the drought, but the hot weather did take its toll.

J.R. Cudd, a grower in West Texas, noted his crop started out 2023 in great shape as good moisture set them up to get the crop started.

“About June 20th, the spigot turned off and we were dry, dry, dry all through our growing season - through June, July, August,” Cudd said.

Daytime temperatures hit over 100 degrees for 21 days at a time in Texas. Then, between Sept. 20 to about Oct. 15. Cudd said that the area received about 13 to 14 inches of rain.

“It was terrible,” Cudd said.  “And, I would say our yields are at least 20% to 25% off in yield in West Texas.

Growers in the northern part of the Midsouth were able to get into the field on time in 2023, but again, the acres that did not have supplemental irrigation were hit hard when drought and heat hit in July.

Greg Baltz, an Arkansas grower said they were able to stay on top of the crop until they began harvest.

“It's the first time I can ever remember digging peanuts and two days later they were ready or past ready to harvest,” Baltz said. “We had loads going to the buying point at 7 ½% to 8%, which was way too low. We've never seen them dry that quick.”

Low humidity and heat can cause peanuts to over dry and split. Baltz said that at times they were looking at 12% to 15% splits when normally they average 5% to 7%. He noted that his buying point told area farmers to slow down and not to dig more than they could harvest.

Disease control

Parker noted there were some pockets of aflatoxin segregation in the 2023 season.

“We will have some areas with aflatoxin issues, especially areas that didn't have irrigation, and in the Southeast,” he said. “Our industry is quite adept at managing and dealing with aflatoxin issues by segregating farmer stock from the farm forward - testing and analysis from the buying point to the shelling plant.”

So, while aflatoxin was evident in some areas without irrigation, the large remainer of the crop remained clean.

Dan Ward, a grower from Clarkton, N.C., noted that leaf spot started fairly early in his area, but that new varieties should help prevent the disease.

“We do have a couple of new varieties that we're getting ready to start using that hopefully will have even more leaf spot resistance,” Ward said. “It will save a lot of money. It will save a lot of time and it will save a lot of trips across the field.”

North Carolina State University is working to introduce the trait into Virginia varieties, according to Parker. Like Ward, he said that it will help save on fuel and labor expenses, as well as wear and tear on equipment.

Baltz noted that leaf spot is always a concern in Arkansas, but because peanuts have not traditionally been grown in his area, it may not be as bad as in areas that have had long-term peanut rotation.

“We see that disease start to creep in and grow as peanut acreage increased,” he said. “I am very excited about the opportunity to use genetic markers to help find varieties and traits that peanuts can protect themselves.”

Parker said that there will be a search for natural resistance and wild species that can be transferred into commercial varieties. The National Peanut Board continues to look into cost-sharing projects to develop new traits in peanuts that include resistance to disease and insects.

Input costs

All four growers agreed that high fertilizer and fuel costs had settled for the time being.

“We were able to get the product we needed, but the diesel prices did not slow down,” Ward said. “Where we were getting some custom application of lime, fertilizer and land plaster, the rates went up and it hasn't been able to come back down because of hauling prices.”

“We had a tremendous problem with parts this year, trying to first just trying to get them, many of 'em were on national back order,” he said. “And once we did receive parts, the ones we did get, we saw 50% to a 100% increase in the price of parts.”

Labor cost and availability continue to be a concern in the peanut growing regions, as well.

“Labor prices went up pretty significantly,” Baltz said. “It’s hard to balance our budgets as the input costs have continued to rise.”

Despite an interesting year of less than perfect weather and high inputs, Parker raised the flag on the versatility and demand of peanuts as a food ingredient.

“Even though prices are elevated compared to where they were two years ago, peanuts are a still a great value as an ingredient,” he said. “They are a great value for the consumer.”