July 9, 2014
www.gfb.org
Vol. 32 No. 27
GEORGIA FARMERS INCREASE PEANUT ACREAGE Perhaps looking to take advantage of the best available crop price, Georgia farmers have planted significantly more acres in peanuts according to the June Acreage Report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which was released on June 30. Farmers planted 590,000 acres in peanuts according to the report, an increase of 160,000 acres over the state’s 2013 peanut acreage, a boost of 37.2 percent. National Peanut Board Chairman John Harrell said peanut prices relative to other crops motivated farmers to plant more peanuts. “The price of corn and the price of cotton are both down,” said Harrell, who is chairman of the Georgia Farm Bureau Peanut Committee and a Grady County Farm Bureau director. “Peanuts with the yields these new varieties potentially can make, even at $425 [per ton], if you can make 6,000-plus pounds [per acre], you can make more money. That was the driving force.” According to Harrell, the fact that no government payments for peanuts will be made under the 2014 farm bill until October 2015 had little or no influence on peanut planting decisions. “People did not plant for the program. They planted because of the commodity prices,” he said. Georgia farmers also planted more acres of cotton and soybeans in 2014. Cotton acreage jumped from 1.37 million in 2013 to 1.45 million in 2014, an increase of 80,000 acres, or 5.8 percent. Soybean acreage increased by 21.7 percent, from 230,000 in 2013 to 280,000 in 2014. Georgia’s hay acreage estimate of 580,000 acres is the same as the 2013 harvested acreage. Georgia farmers increased acres planted in oats from 50,000 in 2013 to 60,000 in 2014, an increase of 20 percent. The state’s planted acreage in corn, sorghum and winter wheat all declined in 2014. Georgia corn acreage fell from 510,000 in 2013 to 380,000 in 2014, a decline of 25.5 percent. Sorghum planted for all purposes in Georgia totaled 45,000 acres in 2014, down 10,000 from 2013 planted acreage, or 18.2 percent). Winter wheat planted in late 2013 and early 2014 fell by 120,000 acres, from 420,000 in 2012/13 to 300,000 in 2013/14, a decline of 28.6 percent. The state’s rye acreage fell from 190,000 in 2013 to 170,000 in 2014, a drop of 10.5 percent) Nationally, NASS estimated a record high 84.8 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2014, up 11 percent from last year. Corn acres planted are estimated at 91.6 million acres, down 4 percent from last year, the lowest planted acreage in the U.S. since 2010. Peanuts are at 1.315 million acres in 2014, up 23 percent from 2013. Planted upland cotton acres are estimated at 11.19 million, up 9.7 percent from 2013.