2009 peanut season marked by uncertainty

So when can a bumper peanut crop be a bad thing and salmonella-contaminated peanut products be good for peanut farmers?

This year, maybe.

A record peanut yield last year flooded the market and is expected to keep prices down this year. But if retailers are forced to strip tons of peanut products from store shelves in response to the salmonella scare, and if farmers plant the right acreage and get the right yield this year, profits could follow.

With just a few weeks left before farmers begin planting peanuts, longtime farmers say they are going into the planting season with more unknowns than ever.

Most farmers should already have contracts in place for their products, but a weak economy and uncertainty in the markets have left most farmers without contracts today.

That was one of the most popular conversations taking place at the annual Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade show, held at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds Thursday.

“There is just a huge amount of market uncertainty out there, and that’s the bottom line,” said Marshall Lamb, an economist with the National Peanut Lab in Georgia.

Headland resident Curry Parker said he will be planting his 39th crop this year, and has never entered into the planting season with as much uncertainty.

Parker said he planted about 1,450 acres of peanuts last year and said he will probably plant around 1,000 acres this year, then try to determine the best alternative crop for the remaining acreage.

“We just try to play the market as best we can,” Parker said.

Hundreds of farmers attended the trade show Thursday, where vendors displayed the latest equipment, technology, herbicides, fertilizers and other items.

Lamb said peanut producers will have to perform a precarious balancing act to put the right number of peanuts in the market, and carry over the right number into next year’s market.

Too many acres could lead to another market glut. Too few could lead to too much demand. And there is no way to predict whether the season will produce another bumper crop or poor yields comparable to 2006 and 2007.

Lamb said the weak economy that is expected to linger for most of 2009 could actually help the peanut industry. He said peanut and peanut butter consumption typically rises during weak economies.