2012 Peanut Acres Should See Increase

2011 saw contracts for peanuts increase significantly over 2010, and un-contracted peanuts at the end of the season saw some eye-popping prices. Bob Sutter, CEO of NC Peanut Growers association says that the 2012 contracts for peanuts are decent:
 

“The contracts last year, for the 2011 crop were mostly $625, this year the contract is $700, for virginias and $675 for high-oleic runners, there is some interest by the shellers to get more runners planted in the V-C and the idea is that they will be high-oleic so that all the runners that are produced will be high-oleic, so that you don’t have the issue of keeping them separated.”
 

And those contract prices are bringing more producers into the fold, according to Sutter:
 

“The idea of raising the contract price to make sure that we have enough Virginias planted, was welcomed by growers, they anticipated a little more, but the $700 is all that any contract was offered for. So, we’re waiting to see now how many growers will plant over and above the contract acres because new growers are interested in planting and may not have gotten a contract. So, what we’re looking at…we will have an increase of acres, but we won't really know until crop intentions are released.”
 

As far as increased peanut acres, Sutter says that those acres will be borrowed from several different crops:
 

“We’re talking, at most, I think 15,000 acres, and when you look at the cotton crop, or the corn crop or the bean crop, 15,000 acres is not a big hit to any of those. So, it may come a little bit from here and a little bit from there, probably cotton acres which are predicted to be lower this year. So, some of it will come from cotton.”
 

Sutter says that he doesn’t anticipate a difference in growing challenges this year due to the warm winter:
 

“I don’t think so. I don’t see any reason to believe that because it’s been warmer that we’re going to have a worse insect year or a worse weed year. I don’t think that’s been true in the past.”
 

CEO of NC Peanut Growers Association, Bob Sutter.