USDA estimates peanut acreage at lowest since 1915

WASHINGTON -- Federal agriculture officials say American farmers will plant the fewest acres of peanuts since 1915, but lawmakers who helped end the crop's old quota system dispute the estimate and predict a sizable harvest.

According to Department of Agriculture estimates released last week, about 1.26 million acres of peanuts are expected to be planted this year, down 8 percent from 2002 and 19 percent from 2001. Not since 1915, when 1.06 million acres were planted, would less American soil have been allocated for the Southern staple crop.

It would be easy to blame the drop on the new farm bill, approved last year, which bought out the "quotas" that once gave some farmers the right to plant the crop with premium government price supports. However, Southern lawmakers and lobbyists for the industry say the low acreage estimate is inconsistent with the shortage of seeds across the Southeast, which they contend is usually a better indicator of a solid peanut crop.

"In our area, they've actually run out of seed, they've sold so much," said Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat whose southwest Georgia district is the largest peanut territory in the United States.

After suffering through dry spells the last two years, more rain this year also should boost the harvest, Bishop says.

But even by USDA's estimates, the outlook isn't entirely grim for the major peanut-producing states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida, which rank 1st, 3rd and 5th respectively in production.

While the nation's overall estimated peanut acreage is expected to drop, Florida's crop is expected to rise from 96,000 acres last year to 110,000 this year. Alabama is estimated to stay steady at 190,000 acres, but the USDA predicts its total harvested acres should go up a bit. Georgia is expected to drop from 510,000 to 500,000, but the Georgia Peanut Commission contends the state will actually see about a 40,000-acre increase.

"At least in the Southeast, I'd have to question those numbers," said Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission. "We do have some new production areas where they haven't produced peanuts before. I don't know whether USDA took that into account."

Although the USDA doesn't show major increases in those three Southeastern states, it does conclude the major drops are elsewhere. Texas, the second-biggest producer, is estimated to go from 315,000 acres to 260,000 acres; North Carolina from 101,000 to 90,000; Oklahoma from 60,000 to 45,000; and Virginia from 58,000 to 30,000.

Randy Griggs, executive director of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, acknowledges changes in the farm bill probably affected this year's crop, but he contends it may turn out to be a positive even in the short-term. Although the acres planted are expected to be down in Texas and elsewhere, Griggs says they should be more concentrated, and thus, produce a more efficient crop.

"In the old program, if you had peanuts and had the quota, you were going to do your peanuts," Griggs said. "Now that mandate to take advantage of peanuts is not there to require you to plant them. You can mix and match to whatever fits your marketing scheme."

But Wilbur Gamble, a Georgia peanut farmer who has been an outspoken critic of the new farm bill, insists the quota changes -- not uncertainty due to the weather or other factors -- are responsible for the acreage drops.

"I think it has everything to do with it," Gamble said. "In my area, there's a lot of people who cut way back. They made that decision before the weather."

Rep. Terry Everett, an Alabama Republican who is also a peanut farmer, dismisses the complaints of Gamble and other critics.

"To suggest that peanut growers cannot make money under the new farm bill is nonsense," Everett said. "The new farm bill finally allows peanut farmers to grow their other crops without losing their safety net protection."