Texas Peanut Production Climbs In 2024
KAY LEDBETTER
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
Texas peanut producers increased their acreage this year after back-to-back years of drought, according toTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts at theTexas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon. That number could climb next year if losses across hurricane-ravaged regions along the East Coast drive peanut prices upward this year.
Despite early predictions for a third consecutive drought-limited crop, the state saw 236,000 acres planted to peanuts this year, up 14,000 acres from 2023, said Emi Kimura, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension state peanut specialist and associate professor in theTexas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Vernon.
Texas grows all four market types of peanuts, Kimura said. This year, the largest majority, 46%, of the acreage was planted to Spanish, followed by runner, Virginia and Valencia. That has shifted from a couple years ago when most of the peanuts were runners.
“The number of acres going to Spanish is increasing because the price is higher,” she said. “The runner peanuts are mostly for peanut butter while Spanish peanuts go into the food market.”
Hurricane damage to peanut-producing regions
The mixed bag of early drought and the hurricanes across some of the major peanut-producing regions of the nation could cause production to settle below expectations and thus prompt better prices for peanut producers next year, said Pancho Abello, AgriLife Extension agricultural economist and assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics.
“Overall, the market was better, and that is why the acres were up,” Abello said. “Low 2023-24 ending stocks supported high prices despite lower prices of cotton and corn.”
Now, there is concern about hurricanes Helene and Milton’s effect on supplies nationally. About 1.8 million acres of peanuts were planted in the U.S. Of that, Georgia, Florida and Alabama are responsible for about 1.2 million acres, with Georgia accounting for 850,000 acres alone.
Texas is the second largest producer of peanuts, followed by Florida with 190,000 acres and Alabama with 170,000 acres.
“We just don’t know the loss of acres or quality reduction that Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton will cause,” Abello said.
In terms of production, he said U.S. peanut growers planted the highest number of acres since 2017, with an expected production of 4.1 million tons of peanuts. That would have given an expected ending stocks of 862,000 tons, compared to last year’s season-ending stocks of 740,000 tons.
Prices could rise next year
If ending stocks are below 1 million tons, Abello said producers should expect prices to stay high. If the hurricanes reduced overall yields by 5%, the ending stocks would be at or below last year’s.
Prices have steadily climbed over the last three years to be higher than average. The U.S. Department of Agriculture prices for 2023-2024 were $538 per ton on average. USDA is forecasting a price of $510 per ton on average next season, but depressed yields and production due to hurricanes and drought could push prices higher.
Abello explained that producers won’t realize the price difference until next year because they contract with buyers for their peanuts before they plant.
Next year, another factor in potential prices will be how strong peanut demand remains. In 2023, peanut use was a record high, an increase of 9.6% across all platforms. The U.S. used a total of 3.273 billion tons of peanuts last year.
Hot, dry season limit yield potential
While Texas acreage was up, overall production is still in question, depending on the impact of drought across the production regions, Kimura said.
Texas’ planting season started with better moisture than the last two years, she said, but in August it turned dry and hot. The lack of water during July and August likely affected yields, because those are the critical months for the development of pegs and pods.
“Our growers were continuously running water where possible, but fields without sufficient water supply saw a reduction of the potential yield,” Kimura said.
The largest growing regions in Texas are West Texas around Gaines and Yoakum counties, as well as some in the Rolling Plains and some acres in Central Texas. Growers in South Texas added 10,000 acres to the state’s peanut acres this year.
“Our most challenging issue for Texas peanut production is the water,” she said. “That needs to be solved with more drought-tolerant varieties or different cropping systems.”
Another issue this year was the high weed pressure, particularly nutsedge, which is difficult to control in peanut production because of the limited herbicide options. Growers also saw some leaf spot disease issues in some areas and started to see more pod rot in September, Kimura said.
Some growers started digging their peanut fields in late September. Growers of Spanish and Valencia peanuts dig earlier because they are shorter-maturity peanuts than the runner and Virginia peanuts. Harvest will continue through October and into November.
“We are hoping for better yields this year than the last two years, but the August weather was not ideal for the bumper crop,” Kimura said. ∆
KAY LEDBETTER