Question:

I’m doing a blog on this year shaping up to be a good year for both yields and prices. Ron Heiniger is saying he expects this to be the best corn crop ever in North Carolina. What are the chances of this being the best peanut crop ever in North Carolina?  Thank you for your thoughts and input.

Jordan:

I think we will have a good crop but not sure it will be the best ever.  Corn is pretty much made at this point and the key is not having issues from hurricanes that would blow it down.  Peanuts have another month or more for maturation and then we need good conditions through September and October.  I’d say if we have an ideal fall we will have an above-average crop.  An average fall in terms of weather and we get an average crop, but our new average is 2 tons which is outstanding.

Of course, I tend to error on the low side.  I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.  And a lot can go wrong with peanuts in Sep and Oct.  Just because people are out to get me does not mean I am paranoid.

And, high corn yields do not always mean high peanut yields, in part because corn needs more water than peanuts.  Sometimes extra water is not helpful for peanuts.  In the old days, folks used to say a good peanut crop means an average corn crop and a good corn crop means a less than ideal peanut crop.  That was before we had some of the fungicides we use now and when peanuts were grown in part on finer-textured soils due to the quota system.  Peanut soils now are mostly well-drained and our fungicides give good protection.