This year’s Farm Press Peanut Efficiency Awards breakfast July 17 at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference at the Edgewater Beach and Gulf Resort in Panama City Beach will be like no other.  

This year, both 2020 and 2021 winners will be recognized. Breakfast attendees will have the opportunity to learn even more about the success factors of top peanut farmers because eight will be recognized rather than the typical four winners from the Upper Southeast, the Lower Southeast, the Mid-South and the Southwest.

Like other events in 2020, the Southern Peanut Growers conference was cancelled last year due to pandemic. That makes this year’s conference all the more special. People are finally able to leave the virtual world and meet in person, face-to-face. The 2021 conference will be a homecoming for many peanut farmers who have faithfully attended over the years.

A highlight of the breakfast over the years has been the Q&A session facilitated by Marshall Lamb, senior scientist with USDA’s National Peanut Research Laboratory in Dawson, Ga. During this session peanut efficiency winners field questions from the audience on their keys to efficiency and productivity. In each of the breakfasts I have attended since my first in 2015, I learned something from the exchange. I know I will this year as well.

This year will be special because winners from both 2020 and 2021 will be at the breakfast to answer questions and share their challenges and successes in growing peanuts. I always look forward to the breakfast and the conference each year. It’s a privilege to honor some of best peanut farmers and learn from them.

I particularly look forward to this year’s conference and awards breakfast, my first in person conference since the 2019 Southern Peanut Growers. It will be great to see Farm Press colleagues and peanut industry friends in person, rather than on a computer screen.