SUMTER COUNTY, GA -
South Georgia peanut industry leaders are marketing their product to buyers from around the world. The 26th annual Georgia Peanut Tour kicked off Wednesday.
Hundreds of people from 15-states and 3-countries are in south Georgia to learn about peanut production.
We caught up with the group at the Smithville Peanut buying point this morning.
Hundreds of people from all over the country are in south Georgia leaning about our peanut crop for the 26th annual Georgia Peanut Tour.
Just one of the many stops on the tour was here at a Peanut Buying Point in Smithville.
"It is good for learning and education, a lot of us don't know form the farming aspect we learn about the science of food but we don't exactly see the farm and where it comes from," says Lyndsay Bashore, Kraft Foods.
The biggest goal of the tour is to showcase Georgia's peanut industry.
"We have representatives for a number of companies, Kellogg, general mills, MnM, Mars, Hershey's, Kraft, they are all here and we want them to see, because when they go to buy peanuts to put in their products we want them to think Georgia peanuts first," says John Beasley, UGA Professor and Extension Peanut Agronomist.
They get a first hand look at nearly every aspect of peanut production in the state. This year's tour includes on-farm harvesting demonstrations, peanut processing facilities, and production research. This is Wayne Brown's fifth year attending Georgia's Peanut Tour.
"Allows us just to see the effort that goes into the peanut market, it takes a lot to get the peanuts planted all the way until this part," says Wayne Brown, Nichino America.
Brown works for agricultural chemical company that is very big in the peanut fungicide business. Convoy Fungicide helps prevent white mold which is the number one disease in peanuts.
"It controls white mold to ensure they get a higher yield, it is sort of like buying an insurance program against disease," says Brown.
Experts say this year's harvest is looking great.
Tour stops are in several peanut producing counties including Dougherty, Lee, Mitchell, Terrell, and Worth.
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