JONESBORO — Arkansas may never be the No. 1 peanut-producing state in the nation, with our limited purchase on the Delta and Georgia being the legume juggernaut that it is — but the state’s growers have certainly made the most of their potential.
In 2023, Arkansas peanut growers set a state record for average yield with 5,800 lbs. per acre, across more than 35,000 acres. With another 5,000 acres or so, the state would’ve likely seen a new record for overall peanut production as well.
Travis Faske, extension plant pathologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said he could easily exceed 40,000 acres of peanuts in 2024, setting the stage for record production.
“That’s about as much sandy soil as we have in Arkansas that isn’t already planting cotton,” Faske said. On March 12, Faske, who has served as the Division of Agriculture’s acting peanut agronomist for most of the past decade, was part of an expert panel addressing growers in Jonesboro for the Northeast Delta Peanut Production Meeting. About 50 growers and consultants from the area attended.
“If we get to 50,000 acres at some point, it will be because peanut prices are extraordinarily high,” Faske said.
Mike Hamilton, extension irrigation instructor for the Division of Agriculture, told attendees that researchers are zeroing in on the most efficient way to irrigate Arkansas peanuts.
“Historically, the biggest peanut states have center-pivot irrigation,” Hamilton said. “In Arkansas, we’re 90 percent furrow irrigated. Sometimes we have issues with wetting that soil bed, and getting it soaked through, which is something you don’t have to worry about with center pivots.”
As with most crops, proper irrigation is a tightrope, strung between the needs of the plant and the whims of Mother Nature, including rainfall patterns and pathogens such as Southern blight.