UF hosts annual Peanut Field Day

By: Shelia Mader

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (IFAS) hosted local farmers at their Jackson County Research and Education Center last Thursday.

The event was open to anyone remotely related to the peanut growing industry for updates on the newest research in the field of peanut production.

Topics discussed throughout the morning on their ride on wagons through the fields included nematodes, insect control, diseases, new peanut varieties, pesticides updates, and agronomics. This showed firsthand issues facing peanut production. These topics were broken down by stops on the tour.

“We have six different topics that we talk about in the field throughout the course of our day. We have growers, consultants, county agents, and other interested parties who come to hear the latest in our research and how it can benefit their farm and their business,” said Professor of Agronomics and Breeding at UF, Barry Tillman.

“Our main goal is to make sure that we that our growers and our county agents and our consultants and allied industries have the latest information about peanut varieties, about peanut disease control, peanut nematode control, all the things that would impact the crops and make sure that they have the best information that we can possibly give them,” says Tillman.

This was an opportunity for farmers to exchange ideas, issues, and such at the end of the tour over a luncheon of fried catfish and all the trimmings. It gave them the opportunity to exchange personal experiences as well as problem issues in a relaxed atmosphere with others sharing the some of the same problems.

Peanut Field Day is hosted by UF/IFAS yearly in August.