From left, regional Extension agent Eddie McGriff, talks peanuts with North Alabama growers Jimmy Miller, Marty Wootten, Jared Wootten, Nick McMichen and Lance Miller.
North Alabama Peanut Acreage on the Rise Peanut production appears to be poised for growth in North Alabama by many farmers. Eddie McGriff, a regional Extension agent who works in several North Alabama counties, says North Alabama soils are conducive to growing underground crops such as peanuts. He says farmers in the Sand Mountain area of North Alabama have a long history of growing underground crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes. Peanut farmers in North Alabama can
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produce dryland yields of at least 6,000 pounds per acre, according to McGriff. He says these farmers are controlling diseases with four applications using formulations of fungicides such as chlorothalonil and tebuconazole. Sand Mountain soils are also relatively high in calcium, a secondary nutrient needed by peanuts. “So you don’t need to add landplaster to make good peanuts unless you are growing them for seed,” McGriff says. The peanut farmers McGriff has worked with have been growing high
Southeastern Peanut Farmer March 2018
oleic varieties, primarily Georgia-09B, TUFRunner 297 and TUFRunner 511. McGriff recently hosted two meetings to introduce new North Alabama growers to the possibility of growing peanuts. He started the meetings by passing out crop production budgets showing that peanuts compare favorably with other crops in producing net returns to growers. Joe Parker of Reeves West Bay Peanuts based in Wilmer, Alabama, has been buying high oleic peanuts from North Alabama on behalf of Golden