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Millennial Americans -a generation that has grown up learning to cope with an increase in all food allergies and an explosion in food and snack options -say peanut butter and peanuts are the nut products they consume most often.Millennial picture

That’s the finding of a new study conducted by The Bantam Group, on behalf of the National Peanut Board, and released during National Peanut Month. The research also showed that:
• Peanut butter and peanuts are the No. 1 and No. 2 most consumed for both Millennials and the General Market. The findings are in line with USDA’s Economic Research Service data, which shows peanuts are the most consumed nut in America.
• Half of Millennials surveyed eat peanut butter at least once a week, and say they are more likely to eat peanuts and peanut butter on a daily basis.
• Millennials are also significantly less likely than the General Market to eat peanut butter on a sandwich with bread or on crackers. Instead, they are more likely to eat peanuts and peanut butter in non-traditional ways such as in smoothies and sauces.

“This study confirmed what we continue to see every day. No matter how old we are, our love for peanuts and peanut butter is as strong as ever,” said Bob Parker, president and CEO of the National Peanut Board. “It also showed that Millennials are more aware and informed about the food they choose to consume, and they eat peanuts peanut products for their nutritional benefits, versatility and great taste.”

Less than one percent of all Americans have a peanut allergy, ranking them among the eight foods most commonly associated with food allergies. Fortunately, findings from studies like LEAP-On, unveiled this last week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, continue to show promise toward preventing allergies from developing in children.

“Since 2001, America’s peanut farmers have dedicated more than $10 million to food allergy research, education and outreach,” said Gayle White, NPB chair and member from Oklahoma. “LEAP-On and studies like it bring hope to all of us that we’re making progress every day.”

The Bantam study surveyed 750 Millennials (ages of 18-37) and 750 General Market consumers who have eaten peanuts or other peanut products – and/or purchased any of them for someone in their household – at least once in the past month.

For more information about the National Peanut Board, visit www.nationalpeanutboard.org. For more information about peanut allergies and effective management practices, visit www.peanutallergyfacts.org.

The benefits of regularly consuming peanut-containing foods early in life to prevent the development of peanut allergy continue even after stopping peanut consumption for one year, according to a new study led by Gideon Lack, M.D., of King’s College London. Lack announced the results at last week’s meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Los Angeles. National Peanut Board provided funds for LEAP-On and its predecessor LEAP. NPB infant picture

Building on 2015 LEAP study
Published in the latest issue of New England Journal of Medicine, the LEAP-On study was the next phase of the LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) study, which found that the majority of infants at high-risk of developing peanut allergy (i.e., those with egg allergy, severe eczema or both) are protected from peanut allergy at age five years if they eat peanut frequently, starting within the first 11 months of life.

To maintain tolerance, do subjects have to continue to eat peanut?
LEAP-On asked whether those infants who had consumed peanut in the LEAP study would remain protected against peanut allergy if they then stopped eating peanut for 12 months. The study findings conclude that the early introduction of peanut protects against the development of peanut allergy, and such protection continues even when peanut is no longer consumed for 12 months.

The LEAP-On study was completed with 550 participants. All participants were instructed to avoid peanut for 12 months after they had completed the LEAP study, regardless of whether they had been avoiding or eating peanut in the LEAP study. At the completion of LEAP-On, participants completed an oral peanut challenge. Additional peanut allergy assessments were made by questionnaire, skin prick test (SPT), and peanut-specific immune markers IgE and IgG4 were also measured in participants’ blood.

After one year of peanut avoidance, prevalence of allergy was reduced by 74% for those who were introduced early to peanuts
The study found that at 6 years of age, there was no statistically significant increase in allergy after 12 months of avoidance, in those who had consumed peanut during the LEAP trial (3.6% at 60 months versus 4.8% at 72 months). The study also found that peanut allergy was significantly more prevalent in those who had avoided eating peanuts in LEAP, than those who consumed (18.6% vs 4.8%). There were only 3 subjects from the peanut consumption group who developed new peanut allergy during the 12 months of peanut avoidance, but there were also 3 subjects from the avoidance group who developed new peanut allergy.

The authors therefore concluded that in infants at high-risk for allergy in whom peanut was introduced in the first year of life, and continued until age 5, a 12-month period of peanut avoidance was not associated with a significant increase in peanut allergy. Overall, the study saw a 74% relative reduction in the prevalence of peanut allergy in those who consumed peanut compared to those who avoided.

Unknowns: How much or how often peanut should be consumed in early life to prevent allergy
The authors caution that the LEAP study design did not allow a determination of the minimum frequency or amount of peanut consumption required in early childhood to prevent an allergic response to peanut. Further studies are planned to establish whether the effects of early-life peanut consumption followed by ad-lib consumption of peanut over many years maintains this protection against allergy.

It’s National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day & National Peanut Month!
Get ready for a month of celebrating peanuts every tasty way possible!
Here’s a great recipe to get your peanut month started!

PBB&B DogsPBB&B Dogs
1 whole wheat hot dog bun, toasted
1 slightly ripe banana, peeled
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup crisp bacon pieces

1. Toast bun, and spread peanut butter on one side.
2. Sprinkle with the crisp bacon pieces.
3. Add banana, close bun and serve.
Serves 1

Alabama enterprise budgets is a business management tool that is designed to assist producers, Extension agents, lenders, and others in estimating the potential costs and returns associated with agricultural enterprises in Alabama. business-management

Prices and costs are based on the best estimates available from information sources available at the time the budgets were prepared. Because of the wide variety of alternative inputs, locations, and production systems, it is important for one to construct their own budgets and to understand how to use them to make decisions.

Blank lines are provided on each budget for producers to estimate their own costs and returns.

This information is made possible through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University.

Click below for the budget management tool.

Budget management

 

 

 

 

The annual Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade Show is fast approaching. This year’s show will be held Thursday, February 11, 2016, at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds, located on Hwy. 231 South in Dothan, Alabama.2016 SM correct AL-FL Peanut Trade Show logo banner

Sponsored by the Alabama Peanut Producers Association and the Florida Peanut Producers Association, the one-day event offers farmers a full day to view the products and services of more than 80 exhibitors and a day of education. The show opens at 8:30 a.m. and lunch will be provided.

Peanut growers who attend will not only be able to fine tune their farming operations, but will have a chance to win prizes valued at more than $20,000.This year’s Grand Prize is being sponsored by Kelley Manufacturing Company who is offering the use of a new 6 Row Peanut Combine on the grand prize winner’s farm for the 2016 harvesting season, (valued at $15,000), with the option of purchasing the combine through an authorized KMC dealer with $15,000 off the list price. In lieu of the 6 Row Combine the winner can choose the use of another KMC Peanut Harvest Implement with a 10% discount off the list price for purchase.

One peanut producer will win a Grower Prize certificate, sponsored by Amadas, that is good for the use of a new 4-row or 6-row Amadas peanut digger/inverter for the 2016 harvest season or $10,000 towards the purchase of a new Amadas self-propelled peanut combine or $5,000 towards the purchase of a new Amadas 4-Row or 6-Row pull-type peanut combine. Winners of prizes must be certified as a peanut grower with an FSA farm number.

Following lunch, a seed seminar will be held. Topics and guest speakers for the seed seminar will be: Varieties Currently in Production and on the Horizon – Dr. Bill Branch, professor/peanut breeder, University of Georgia, and Dr. Corley Holbrook, peanut breeder, USDA/ARS; Current Breeding Research update – Dr. Marshall Lamb, National Peanut Research Lab/ Auburn University; The Peanut Genomic Initiative – Dr. Steve Brown, The Peanut Foundation.All peanut growers and others interested in the peanut industry are encouraged to attend.

For more information on the show, including exhibit space availability, contact: Teresa Mays at the APPA office in Dothan, Ala. (334) 792-6482 or Sherry Saunders at the FPPA in Marianna, Fla. (850)526-2590.

AL-FL Peanut Trade Show February 11th

AL-FL Peanut Trade Show February 11th

The annual Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade Show is fast approaching. This year’s show will be held Thursday, February 11, 2016, at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds, located on Hwy. 231 South in Dothan, Alabama.2016 AL-FL Peanut Trade Show logo banner

Sponsored by the Alabama Peanut Producers Association and the Florida Peanut Producers Association, the one-day event offers farmers a full day to view the products and services of more than 80 exhibitors and a day of education. The show opens at 8:30 a.m. and lunch will be provided.

Peanut growers who attend will not only be able to fine tune their farming operations, but will have a chance to win prizes valued at more than $20,000.

This year’s Grand Prize is being sponsored by Kelley Manufacturing Company who is offering the use of a new 6 Row Peanut Combine on the grand prize winner’s farm for the 2016 harvesting season, (valued at $15,000), with the option of purchasing the combine through an authorized KMC dealer with $15,000 off the list price. In lieu of the 6 Row Combine the winner can choose the use of another KMC Peanut Harvest Implement with a 10% discount off the list price for purchase.

One peanut producer will win a Grower Prize certificate, sponsored by Amadas, that is good for the use of a new 4-row or 6-row Amadas peanut digger/inverter for the 2016 harvest season or $10,000 towards the purchase of a new Amadas self-propelled peanut combine or $5,000 towards the purchase of a new Amadas 4-Row or 6-Row pull-type peanut combine. Winners of prizes must be certified as a peanut grower with an FSA farm number.

Following lunch, a seed seminar will be held. Topics and guest speakers for the seed seminar will be: Varieties Currently in Production and on the Horizon – Dr. Bill Branch, professor/peanut breeder, University of Georgia, and Dr. Corley Holbrook, peanut breeder, USDA/ARS; Current Breeding Research update – Dr. Marshall Lamb, National Peanut Research Lab/ Auburn University; The Peanut Genomic Initiative – Dr. Steve Brown, The Peanut Foundation.

All peanut growers and others interested in the peanut industry are encouraged to attend. For more information on the show, including exhibit space availability, contact: Teresa Mays at the APPA office in Dothan, Ala. (334) 792-6482 or Sherry Saunders at the FPPA in Marianna, Fla. (850)526-2590.

NPB elects new officers

NPB elects new officers

 Gayle White, a farmer from Frederick, Okla. was recently elected chairman of the 12-member National Peanut Board last week during the Board’s quarterly meeting in Atlanta, Ga. White, who is the Oklahoma member and had been the board’s treasurer, will begin her one-year term Jan. 1.NPB logo

“I’m honored to serve all peanut farmers as chairman of the National Peanut Board this year,” said White. “I feel confident that the direction we’ve set for 2016—understanding our target market of 80 million millennials while continuing to focus on peanut allergy education, outreach and research—will only increase consumer confidence in and preference for peanuts.”

National Peanut Board also elected Ed White of Newville, Ala. as vice-chairman; Greg Gill of Walnut Ridge, Ark. as treasurer; and Dan Ward of Clarkton, N.C. as secretary. These officers will serve one-year terms beginning Jan. 1.

USDA officially instated new Board members and alternates, who will begin their three-year terms Jan. 1. New Board members sworn in were Eileen Jordan (At-Large), Andy Bell (Ga.), Bud Bowers (S.C.) and Peter Froese Jr. (Texas). New alternates sworn in were Micah Barham (At-Large), William Carte (Fla.), Neil Lee (Ga.), Neal Baxley Jr. (S.C.) and Bob White (Texas.).

During the meeting, Board Chairman Bob White (Texas) resigned his position, effective immediately; and the Board voted unanimously to elect vice-chairman Monty Rast (S.C.) as chairman. Rast’s term ends Dec. 31, 2015.

National Peanut Board would like to recognize the following outgoing board members and thank them for their years of service to the peanut industry: Vic Jordan (at-large member and past chairman), John Harrell (Ga. member and past chairman), Monty Rast (S. C. member and chairman) and Bob White (Texas member and immediate past-chairman.)

25 AL counties get ag disaster designation

25 AL counties get ag disaster designation

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday, December 10, 2016, officially designated 25 Alabama counties as natural disaster areas as a result of excessive rainfall, wind and flooding that occurred this year. The designation makes farmers in those counties eligible for finharvest small for website feature story picancial assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency.

In announcing the designation, Governor Robert Bentley said it will provide a much-needed safety net for Alabama’s largest industry.

“Agriculture generates billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs in Alabama,” he said. “As a result of this Secretarial Natural Disaster Designation from USDA, farmers will have additional resources available to assist them in recovering from the excessive rain and flooding we have experienced this year. I appreciate Secretary (of Agriculture) Vilsack for making resources available to those who qualify.”

The 25 counties covered by the natural disaster designation are: Baldwin, Barbour, Butler, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Tallapoosa and Wilcox.

The assistance available to farmers in those 25 counties includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months to apply for emergency loans. The applications will be evaluated individually based on direct production losses.