Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

July 7, 2014

14 Slides

Doing as much of the work themselves as possible is a key to making an efficient peanut crop, say Isaac, John and George Guenther. They hire out only what’s necessary and even hoe peanuts themselves if they can’t find enough labor. They do all their own planting, plowing, digging, harvesting and mechanical work. They built their barn, dug the wells for irrigation systems, did the electrical work and built their homes.

That commitment to efficiency was a key factor in the brothers being named the 2014 Southwest Region Peanut Profitability Award winners.

Rotation also helps. The three brothers farm together as I & J Farms, working 1,500 acres of land—mostly cotton and peanuts.

They plant most of their acreage to cotton, but they like peanuts. “We farm as much peanut acreage as we can,” says George, 25, the youngest brother. “We just do better with peanuts. We look at the potential to make three-bale cotton or 5,000 pounds of peanuts and think we can make the yield on peanuts easier than we can with cotton.

“I don’t know if we are better at growing peanuts or just worse at growing cotton.”

“Peanuts have traditionally been our best crop,” John adds. “It’s our money crop.”

 

About the Author(s)

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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