Category: Latest News / Blog

Texas Peanut Producers Board (TPPB) seeks eligible peanut producers who are interested in serving on the National Peanut Board. TPPB will hold a nominations election to select two nominees each for member and alternate to the National Peanut Board on March 3, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. CST at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 11708 US-70, Vernon, Texas 76384. All eligible producers are encouraged to participate. Eligible producers are those who are engaged in the production and sale of peanuts and who own or share ownership and risk of loss of the crop.

Peter Froese Jr. of Seminole, Texas is the current National Peanut Board member and Jeff Roper of Lubbock, Texas, serves as the alternate. The terms for the current Texas board member and alternate expire Dec. 31, 2021. 

The National Peanut Board encourages the inclusion of persons of any race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation and marital or family status. NPB encourages all persons who qualify as peanut producers to attend the meeting and run for nomination. 

It is USDA’s policy that membership on industry-government boards and committees accurately reflect the diversity of the individuals served by the programs.

Contest Overview

We want to see your #TexasPeanuts photos! Photos of peanut fields, planting, harvest, foods and everything in between will be accepted. To enter, email your photo(s) to kylie@texaspeanutboard.com by 5 p.m. on January 25, 2021. Please include your name and even a fun photo title if you have one.

After all submissions are received, our social media followers will get to choose the winner. Voting will take place on our Instagram and Facebook stories beginning January 27, 2021.

The winner will receive a prize containing some #TexasPeanuts goodies. The winning photo, as well as the others, will have the opportunity to be featured on our website or our social media. For questions, email kylie@texaspeanutboard.com. Make sure you are following our social media (@texaspeanuts) so you can vote.

This contest is open to everyone, but if you are under 18, make sure you have a parent or guardian’s permission before entering. All entries in this contest will become TPPB’s property and may be used on our website, social media, in newsletters, or in advertising and marketing campaigns.

Photos may be in color or black and white. You may enter as many photos as you would like. Please make sure photos are of good quality and resolution and do not contain embedded text or logos.

Thank you for participating and good luck!

My peanut crops in Gaines, Terry and Dawson Counties have caught a few rains, and temperatures have dropped. Unfortunately, Yoakum County has had very little rainfall. 

While my fields are looking good as a whole, some peanuts are still showing heat stress, even with heavy irrigation.

• 

• 

As far as yielding, 98-99-14 and 09B are proving well under heavy irrigation. With lower temperatures, the last part we need is consistent rainfall. 

 The resilience of farmers is proven in our ability to constantly adapt our operation for success. COVID-19 has proved, and still is, proving to be a time of endless problem solving and perseverance. 

There are a variety of outside influences that enable farms to operate efficiently. For me, this is where the impact of COVID-19 is hurting the most. The issues surrounding immigration are proving agricultural workers are an essential part of our infrastructure. Supply chain delays introduce challenges for repairing equipment, acquiring chemicals, and necessary drivers to pick up and deliver harvested crops. As peanut harvest approaches, I suspect there will be issues with the ability to staff buying points with enough personnel and the ability to have peanuts graded. 

Farmers all over the world have been put to the test to cope with the turbulence of COVID-19. Fortunately, we are well seasoned in overcoming obstacles. Too much rain, not enough rain, wind, hail, and poor commodity prices are on the short list of obstacles we encounter. Every year we pivot a few times before finding our path towards harvesting a crop. This year, we have pivoted a dozen times and we’re just half way there. 

I once heard a saying, ‘If it were easy, everyone would do it.’

Many parts of the peanut industry have turned to a virtual reality. Research conferences, board meetings, and annual conventions have been executed from the comfort of our homes. 

American Peanut Research and Education Society had their 52nd annual conference pre-recorded on July 14. Members of the Texas Peanut Producers Board and peanut producers contributed a recorded panel discussion titled, “Production, Challenges and Strategies: a Grower Perspective.” Their 53rd annual conference is scheduled to be in Dallas in 2021. 

While some events have had the luxury of being accomplished online, there are still events that have been postponed or canceled entirely. Texas Peanuts Producers Board was a sponsor for the International Food Bloggers Conference in November 2020, it has been cancelled and postponed to 2021. 

We will evaluate a sponsorship when the time comes. In addition to the Food Bloggers Conference, we have cancelled our annual Influencers Tour and the West of Texas Tour. In years before, both were held in the fall in West Texas and were proven as effective ways to promote high quality Texas Peanuts. We hope our new partnership with Wild Hive, promoting peanuts to influential, high end Texas chefs, will be a suitable replacement for these tours. 

While many industries have turned to the ease of the internet from the safety of their home office, farmers have remained active on the farm. Thank you for your undivided attention to your crops.

 Texas Peanuts are a premium product and deserve a premium position amongst culinary innovators, specifically top-level chefs in Texas. 

The global pandemic has provided the U.S. industry with an increase in peanut butter sales, but the Texas Peanut Producers Board is looking to go beyond peanut butter to encourage a better understanding of and appreciation for Texas Peanuts as a premium product.

Phase one, of a five-phrase process, is re-introducing the product to culinary innovators in Texas—top-level chefs and culinary experts. We will distribute a premium peanut care package to the most influential 20 top chefs and culinary experts in key Texas markets (Austin, Houston, DFW, and San Antonio). Each care package will provide information about our Texas Peanut story and what makes our peanuts premium. With it, we will include a coupon for 20 lbs. of Texas Peanuts whenever they are ready for it, as they begin to open their business.

Texas Peanut Producers Board is partnering with Wild Hive, a marketing and communications firm with expertise in food and agriculture based out of Austin, Texas. 

Today’s consumers are passionate about what they eat and where their food comes from. Fortunately, farmers have always had these same passions. TPPB thinks it is time to join forces to promote peanuts.

Food bloggers can serve as a middle man between farmers and consumers. Bloggers spend their time researching, testing, writing, rewriting, and promoting different foods. TPPB want to communicate to consumers through people they trust– food bloggers.

The conference will take place in El Paso Nov. 12-15, 2020. We hope to use this opportuntity to market our peanuts and recruit more bloggers to be a part of our annual Influencers Tour held in Lubbock. 

• 

• 

In an effort to reduce overhead costs, The Board has closed its office in Lubbock and opened a mailbox in McKinney. Executive Director Shelly Nutt will be working from the road, or maybe in a peanut field- depending on the day.

“Having an office is not necessary when I spend so much time on the road promoting High Quality Texas Peanuts,” Nutt said.  “I work from meeting rooms in Washington, D.C., hotel rooms in Georgia, tour buses in Texas, or in airport terminals.”

Texas peanut farmers have faced several droughts in recent years and in turn, reduced the number of harvested acres. The organization is funded by the tons produced so we are forced to reduce the overall budget. Eliminating office rent and utility bills enables the board to redirect those funds into research projects, educational campaigns, or promotional activities.  

To contact Texas Peanut Producer Board, email Shelly Nutt at shelly@texaspeanutboard.com or call at 806-632-5350.  Mail can be sent to 1821 N. Lake Forest Drive, Ste 700-323, McKinney, Texas 75071.

 The Texas Peanut Producers Board re-elected two board directors during elections held in January 2020. Elected directors will serve a six year term. 

Louis Grissom of Seminole was re-elected for his At Large position and Larry Don Womack of DeLeon was re-elected in Voting Region Three. 

The voting period was from Jan. 9-23, 2020. A canvassing committee counted ballots on Feb. 3 and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) ratified the election. The two board members will be sworn in on Apr. 2, 2020 during TPPB’s spring remote board meeting. 

We recieved a record number of participation in voting numbers. Thank you to those who took time to vote. 

• 

• 

Texas peanuts are of high-quality and worth sharing with the world. Food manufacturers from Mexico and Colombia traveled to Central Texas in October 2019 to learn about the production of Texas peanuts.

Food manufacturers are an important pillar of the peanut industry and TPPB’s goal is to remind manufacturers to always request the best, Texas peanuts, when purchasing peanuts.

Farmers do the hard work of growing a great peanut crop, TPPB wants to add value to the product through events like these. Manufactures were able to see harvest at Gary Boyd’s farm and ask questions to peanut farmers Grayson Wilmeth, TPPB Vice Chairman, and Murry Phillips.

Fifteen years ago, Mexico was an insignificant importer of Texas peanuts, purchasing less than 16k MT. Today, they hold the title at the second largest trade partner with purchases exceeding 100k MT. The relationship between Texas peanut producers and international partners continues to go. 

We have the same goals for Columbia. We want to take a small market share, less than 5k MT in 2018, and grow it into a major trade partner and believe these tours are beneficial to meeting that goal.