Peanuts good to South Carolina grower

Tag : grain planter


In 1975, the James brothers set out to make their agriculturalfortune farming 100 acres of corn, 100 acres of cotton and 100acres of soybeans. They subsequently bought the cotton gin fromtheir father and now farm close to 2,000 acres near Orangeburg,S.C.

Keeping with family tradition, they added a grain elevator andbuying point, recognizing that grain would fill the void being leftby reduction in cotton acreage.

Completing their diversification, they bought a peanut buying pointand operate a feed and hardware store from there. Being both newpeanut growers and peanut buyers has been a rewarding, albeitchallenging transition, according to James.

Like so many South Carolina farmers, they switched some of theiracreage to peanuts four years back in an effort to reduce cottonacreage. At one time they grew as much as 1,200 acres of cotton.
A big advantage of diversification, he adds, is getting away fromthe more labor-intensive crops. In our area finding and keepinggood labor is a real challenge. Putting more acreage into grainseems to be a general trend in our area much of that related tolower labor needs, James says.

They now grow 500 acres of cotton, 600 acres of wheat and beans and400 acres of corn in addition to their 300 acres of peanuts.Peanuts, he says offer the best opportunity for profit, followed bywheat and double-crop soybeans.

With irrigation, James says it costs $500-$600 per acre to growcotton. Corn cost $400-$450 wheat and beans roughly $350 per acre.Recent increases in fertilizer alone raises the cost of productionby $40 per acre on some crops, he says. Add in 4-plus dollars agallon for diesel fuel and increases in pesticide costs, and thecost of doing business in agriculture is at a record high.

One of the advantages of being so diversified in both agri-businessand production agriculture is being able to take advantage ofcurrent high prices for grain crops, but more importantly to be ina position to rotate crops to take maximum advantage of costsavings on crop inputs.

Peanuts are especially attractive this year. Contracts are good,and by rotating every fourth year with corn, we are able to save alot of money on fertilizer. We soil sample every farm every year,so we have a good handle on what our fertility needs will be andpeanuts every fourth year is a good option from that perspective,James says.

When they made the decision to get into peanut production in a bigway, the James brothers made a commitment to do things right thefirst time around on peanut ground.

We knew we would have some advantages growing peanuts on land onwhich the crop had never been grown. Still, we made an effort tomanage the land as much as the crop. It was a part of our overallstrategy, James says.

In 2009, they will begin planting peanuts on some of their originalpeanut ground and James is convinced their attention to detail fouryears ago will pay off.

Last year they started strip-tilling their peanut land.Strip-tilling peanuts is not for everybody, but on our farm it hasworked out really well. It certainly has played a role in helpingus keep peanut production costs down, he adds.

In their strip-tillage system, the James brothers start with aburndown in early March, using glyphosate and 2,4-D. Theystrip-till the land, using an Auto Track GPS system that helps keeprows straight. Uniformity in rows helps get the land ready forplanting, because they let it sit out 2-3 weeks to collect moisturein the beds.

We are new to strip-tillage and still new to peanut production. Asnew growers we are fortunate to have Jay Chapin (Clemson Universitypeanut and small grains specialist), who gives us a lot of goodadvice on varieties, planting dates, pesticides and otherproduction practices.

We are also fortunate to have a good county Extension agent, GregHarvey, who knows a lot about peanut production. We listen prettyclosely to what those guys tell us and so far we've had goodsuccess with our peanuts, James says.

Though some growers have reduced seeding rates, James says theystill use six seed per foot and plant on or about May 10, primarilyto avoid problems with tomato spotted wilt virus.

Keeping with their plan to treat their peanut land right, they useliquid inoculant not mixed with sprays. They add five pounds ofTemik per acre to give the peanuts a good start.

They use glyphosate to burndown weeds and grass, then come back onor about May 10 and plant peanuts. Behind the planter they use acombination of herbicide families. Typically, we will use somecombination of Dual, Prowl and Valor. If we have escapes, whichhave been rare on the peanut land, they will come back withgramoxone or Cadre, James says.

As for fungicides, James says, he relies heavily on recommendationsfrom Jay Chapin. I tell him what kind of land on which I amplanting peanuts and he asks me a lot of questions. From thatconversation, we get a range of fungicide options, and we base someof that on price, but mostly on the best way to rotate thesefungicides to lower the risk of resistance, he adds.

We typically start with Bravo at 30 days after planting and Tiltplus Bravo, or the generic equivalent, at 45 days. That hasremained fairly stable since we've been growing peanuts. After theinitial two fungicide applications, we change the remaining spraysaround from year to year.
In keeping with their strategy of doing things right, James saysthey used Provost in their fungicide schedule, even though it wasmore expensive than some other treatments. James notes that Provostprovides both leafspot and white mold protection. Unlike otherfungicides, it moves down through the plant, giving a slightlydifferent mode of action.

Growing peanuts on virgin land, we don't have a lot of diseaseproblems, and I don't want it. That's why we use a comprehensivefungicide and herbicide program. We believe doing it the right waythe first time, will pay off in the long-run, James says.