Although the peanut boom was short-lived in Leflore County, those farmers who stuck with the alternative crop say it’s working out as well as what they would have otherwise planted on that land.
“The people who stayed in it figured out a way to make good peanut crops, and they are going to do well with it and be profitable,” said Haley Easley, who this year has planted 400 acres of the crop near Minter City.
Easley said there were 20 to 30 farmers growing peanuts within a 50-mile radius of Greenwood in 2012, when the price for the crop jumped to around $750 per ton. Now the number is about half that.
There are 1,714 acres planted this year in peanuts in Leflore County, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. That’s down from their 2015 peak of 2,562 acres but more than 2012’s 1,244 acres.
Jon Byrd, the manager for Birdsong Peanuts’ buying point in Greenwood, said peanut yields in the county have been good — around 4,300 pounds per acre.
“Our farmers around here are yielding anywhere from the low end of two tons to a high end of right at three tons,” said Byrd.
Easley, who got into peanut farming after the price boom in 2012, said prices for the crop have been on a steady rise since last year.
“We are hoping the prices are higher this year,” Easley said. “I feel good about it. If we have a good fall, we stand a chance to make more money on peanuts than we do cotton, corn or beans this year.”
He estimates the crop will sell for about $500 per ton this year after bottoming out in recent years at $350 per ton. Despite the improved prices, Easley does not expect a new rush of farmers planting the crop.
“I think the only thing that would drive people into the business right now would be a decrease in grain and cotton prices and an increase in peanut prices. I think the way the markets are at today’s level, I can’t picture a lot of people getting into peanuts,” he said.
Chriss Howard said her family’s experience growing peanuts has been successful but hard work. She and her husband, Matt, are growing 500 acres of the crop this year near Sidon.
“There are only certain herbicides that can be used on peanuts for weed control,” she said. “Every year we have to hire extra people to chop the weeds that herbicides don’t control.”
The slower pace of the peanut harvest also requires an adjustment for farmers who are used to harvesting cotton, corn and soybeans much more quickly.
“The harvest is very slow and dusty,” she said. “One peanut combine can only harvest about 20-25 acres per day.”
Soil type is a key element in deciding whether to plant peanuts, she said. The Howards’ land includes lighter, sandier soil that makes it easier to harvest the peanuts when they need to be dug up from the ground in the fall, she said.
One of the biggest advantages to growing peanuts, according to Byrd, is that it is a good crop to rotate with cotton.
“This is a traditionally cotton country area right here. Cotton needs a lot of nitrogen to grow, and peanuts put that nitrogen back in the ground along with corn,” he said. “The best yields that I have seen come off of farmers is when they plant corn after cotton and then peanuts. So it would be peanuts, cotton and then corn, and then they will start back over.”
Byrd said he sees peanuts as a stable crop in farmers’ planting mix.
“Peanuts are one of the best things I have seen come to the Delta in a while just for the sheer fact it is something new, it is great for our farmers and it is great for our land,” Byrd said.
Easley and Howard are mixed in their projections of where peanut acreage might be heading in the Delta.
“I don’t think it is going to get very much bigger than what it is now, and I don’t think we will see peanuts growing around here like corn, soybeans and cotton,” Easley said. “It is always going to be a minor acreage in the big scheme of things.”
Howard is more bullish.
“The demand for peanuts is steadily increasing,” she said. “Peanuts are a great source of plant protein, and research is showing more health benefits, all for an affordable price.”
•Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
The original version of this article misspelled the first name of Haley Easley.
