The 2015 Field Crops Field Day will be held on Friday, August 21 at the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center (WREC) in Headland, Alabama. 
Registration will begin at 8 a.m. with field tours starting at 8:30 a.m. Pesticide points will be available to attendees. The event is being held cooperatively by Auburn University, Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.
For more information, contact the WREC office at 334-693-2010.
The 2015 Southern Peanut Growers Conference kicked off Thursday, July 23 at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA. Hundreds of growers from across the peanut producing states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi are attending the three-day educational meeting. 
The first general session, “Research: The Future is Now,” featured a panel of researchers who discussed issues that growers may be dealing with in the coming years.
Pictured speaking during the first session is Kris Balkcom, (far right) Auburn University – Wiregrass Research and Extension Center – Headland, Alabama.
A report released this week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service shows an increase in acres planted in peanuts this year in Alabama. Although previous reports indicated Alabama to be at 185,000 acres that have been planted, the new forecast shows Alabama at 215,000 planted acres with an expected 212,000 acres to be harvested.
The increase in planted acres is mainly due to relatively low prices of other crops, especially cotton. Alabama is one of the top producing states in the U.S., second only to Georgia with a total of 800,000 acres planted. Overall, U.S. peanut growers planted an estimated 1.6 million acres of peanuts and intend to harvest 1.57 million acres, both up 18 percent from the previous year.
Kris Balkcom, Peanut Specialist for Auburn University, recently told attendees at the USA Peanut Congress that after reports on estimated acres, the leaders in the industry have lowered the peanut acreage estimate for 2015. Earlier in the season, the peanut specialist had predicted a 20 percent increase in peanut acreage for 2015. 
After adding up the states, the new estimate is 1,584,000 acres of peanuts, a 15 percent increase over the 2014 acreage of 1,340,000 acres. USDA had earlier estimated a 9% increase in peanut acreage and will issue an update on Tuesday, June 30.
Balkcom also gave a status report for the peanut crop in Alabama. “We had a delayed planting due to a wet April and intense May rains. Planting is just getting finished. This will be a more than likely late crop with some stand issues and the third year of late thrip flights with heavy pressure. We certainly need a good rain in August and September to have a respectable yield to match up with price.”
The National Peanut Board and the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) welcomed over 12 distinguished professional chefs to St. Helena, Calif. for NPB’s first-ever Millennial Dining Summit. Held over the course of two days, the summit helped chefs discover the many new food and flavor concepts that millennials are gravitating towards in the food service industry – which of course included flavor pairings with peanuts!
According to MMGY Global, 60 percent of millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than material things. This includes treating themselves to occasional dinners, vacations, and dining experiences outside of the traditional chain restaurant environment. As a result, millennial diners are gravitating and seeking flavors that give them a simultaneous and multi-layered taste experience, thus creating a demand within restaurants to expand flavor profiles within their dishes. International flavor pairings are part of that movement and were a highlighted concept that was integrated into the events at the Millennial Dining Summit.
The summit launched with NPB’s Peanut Recipe Innovation Challenge. NPB challenged three student chefs teams from the CIA to create a peanut recipe that also matched the trends data that NPB saw for millennial dining concepts. Each team had to present a uniquely-created dish with an explanation of why their dish is ideal for the millennial dining market. Teams were awarded scholarships in the amounts of $6,000, $3,000 and $1,500. Results were as follows:
The second day of the Summit was dedicated to educating professional chefs about the latest millennial dining trends, food concepts and how those trends can be incorporated into today’s dining menus. Highlighted speakers included Maeve Webster, president of Menu Matters; Chef Alex Ong, Asian cuisine expert; Katie Ayoub, managing editor of Flavor & the Menu; Tara Fitzpatrick, senior editor of Food Management, and Casey Cox, seventh-generation peanut farmer and executive director of the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District in Georgia.
The event concluded with a hands-on kitchen experience where chef attendees were paired with a student chef finalist to create their own peanut dishes that matched or were influenced by the millennial trends presentations from that morning.
“Overall, the first-ever Millennial Dining Summit was an overwhelming success,” said Lauren Highfill Williams, NPB’s marketing and communications manager. “Each chef walked away with new insights into the millennial mindset and how peanuts can be a smart ingredient choice for any menu lineup or an integral part of any culinary discussion.”
U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Alabama, recently spoke to a group of peanut growers from the Wiregrass area and reiterated her dedication to agriculture and protecting the farmers’ interests in Washington. Pictured is Carl Sanders (center), president of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, as he and Mitt Walker (left) , director, National Legislative Programs for the Alabama Farmers Federation, talk with Roby about the future of agriculture and their concern over the growing number of regulations that affect the more than 1,000 peanut growers in Alabama.
The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) reminds all producers, including, fruit, vegetable and nursery producers, that they need to have their Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification form (AD-1026) on file with their local USDA service center by June 1, 2015. The 2014 Farm Bill required all producers have the form on file by the June 1 deadline to become or remain eligible for crop insurance premium support.
“Most producers already have a certification form on file, however, some such as fruit, vegetable, and nursery producers, who are new to crop insurance or who may not participate in other USDA programs may not be aware that they need to do this,” said Davina Lee, Valdosta Regional Office director. “We have taken many steps recently to broaden participation in the crop insurance program as part of the farm safety net, including offering new policies such as the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, Pasture Rangeland Forage protection, and extending organic price elections to many new crops.”
Producers should visit their local USDA service center and talk with their crop insurance agent before the June 1, 2015, deadline to ask questions, get additional information or learn more about conservation compliance procedures. Producers who file their form by the deadline will be eligible for federal crop insurance premium support during the 2016 reinsurance year, which begins July, 1, 2015.
Additional information about federal crop insurance and the HELC and WC provisions is available on the RMA Farm Bill webpage.
Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Producers can use the RMA Cost Estimator to get a premium amount estimate of their insurance needs online. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at www.rma.usda.gov.
This years Southern Women’s Show festivities in Nashville, TN kicked off on April 30th and was proclaimed “Peanut Lover’s Day” at the show! Members from the Alabama Peanut Producers Association (APPA) and the Southern Peanut Growers (SPG) exhibited during the four-day event that welcomed over 60,000 in attendance. The first 250 guests through the doors on opening day received a cutting board compliments of Southern Peanut Growers. Caleb Bristow, APPA executive director and Leslie Wagner, SPG executive director also took to the cooking stage to showcase several peanut recipes during the event.
Leslie Wagner, executive director of the Southern Peanut Growers and Caleb Bristow, executive director of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association prepare peanut recipes on the cooking stage during the Southern Women’s Show in Nashville, TN.
Members of the 2015 Alabama Peanut Producers Association’s “Peanut Team” participated in the March of Dimes’ “March for Babies” walk on Saturday, April 18, 2015. This year’s event was held at the Geri Moulton Children’s Park, located in front of USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. 
This marked the sixth consecutive year the Alabama Peanut Producers Association (APPA) sponsors the Kids Activities tent at walk. Children of all ages, along with their parents, enjoyed the children’s area where they made peanut arts and crafts, won prizes, received a packet of Alabama peanuts along with educational brochures on the health benefits of peanuts.
March for Babies is held yearly in 1,100 communities across the nation. Over 7 million people, including more than 20,000 company and family teams as well as national sponsors, particpate in the event that has raised more than $2 billion since 1970.
Funds raise are used toward research that focuses on the prevention of premature births, birth defects and infant mortality. Every year, more than half a million babies are born prematurely and more than 120,000 are born with serious birth defects in the United States. Seventy-six cents of every dollar raised in March for Babies is spent on research and programs to help prevent these issues.
Tuskegee University (TU) hosted the George Washington Carver Lecture Series on global food security and agricultural innovations April 8 on campus. The Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation co-sponsored the event. From left are Alabama Peanut Producers Association (APPA) President Carl Sanders, APPA Executive Director Caleb Bristow, TU College of Agriculture Dean Walter Hill and former APPA Interim Executive Director Jim Cravey. The center artwork depicts Carver and was included in a silent auction during the event. 