Agricultural News
Peanut Commission Director Foresees Record Harvest on the Horizon
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:14:10 CDT
October is peanut harvest time in Oklahoma and Mike Kubicek, executive director of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission, spoke with Ron Hays about progress so far. Kubicek will appear on In the Field Saturday morning at about 6:40 a.m. on News 9.
"It's October and peanut harvest is underway in 17 counties in Oklahoma-at some stage. Diggers are running. We have buying points who have taken peanuts now. Some have even been graded, but next week will be our peak week."
He said growing season terminated a littler earlier this year than some producers had hoped.
"We had kind of a surprise and a shock and a wake-up call, if you will, in the first week of October when we got a freeze across much of our growing area. It burnt the tops out of our peanuts that needed another two or three weeks to finish out. And so we're kind of still waiting. The verdict is still as to whether those plants will go ahead and mature out like we had hoped they would."
Kubicek says that, so far, producers are finding the early freeze has not affected their crop's quality or yields.
"The quality is actually quite good. We're delivering Spanish and Virginia types in now. The runners are the ones that take a little bit longer. And those will be the ones the verdict's still out. That's the one we hope will go ahead and mature out. We're seeing grades right now averaging above average and the yields are, I think, will be, perhaps, one of those record years."
Peanuts handle the heat pretty well though they do need moisture. Kubicek says that moisture this year has been better than last year, but peanuts held up well last year.
"Last year peanuts were almost the only crop standing after the severe drought conditions that we had. And we got started off great this year. At planting time, ideal weather conditions, adequate moisture. We got the crop up and running good. It lapped earlier this year than it did last year. In other words the middles closed up and cooled the soil down. Even during the heat of this year, peanuts fared much, much better this year than during last year's drought."
With more favorable conditions, Kubicek says this year's harvest may be one for the record books.
"We're 99.9 percent irrigated. Farmers kept them well watered. Water was better this year than it was last. We didn't have the extreme winds this year during the heat period that we did last year, so our evaporation rate wasn't as severe."
He said that with a record crop facing producers, some may find themselves in difficult straits before all is said and done. Some have contracted their crops and some have not. He said those who didn't contract their crop may find themselves a bit concerned as harvest comes in.
"That's our biggest problem. No matter what commodity you produce, it's how to market that crop. And last year we saw peanuts that were not contracted bring in almost double the contract price that peanuts that were contracted brought because we had such a short supply. And, consequently, some of our producers, our younger producers, decided maybe the best thing to do is to not contract them this year. But, as we've seen, we've had ideal conditions and we've had 30 percent more peanut acres planted across the nation and we're going to be covered with peanuts and there's basically no market for those peanuts that are not contracted."
Kubicek said that he expects producers to harvest about 20,000 acres of peanuts this year.
You can hear more from Mike Kubicek by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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