Farmers Slash Peanut Area

WASHINGTON - Jun 30/09 - SNS -- Area planted to peanuts in 2009 is estimated at 1.10 million acres, down 29% from 2008, according to the USDA's preliminary seeded estimates for the year.

This represents the lowest U.S. planted acreage since 1915. Area for harvest is forecast at 1.07 million acres compared with the 1.51 million harvested last year. Abundant supplies resulting from the record production of 2008 has led to lower contract prices in 2009 and is the reason for the decline in planted acreage.

Southeast growers (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina) planted 825,000 acres, compared with the 1.13 million acres planted in 2008. Georgia, the largest peanut-producing State, decreased acreage by 33% from the previous year.

Growers in the Southwest (New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) planted an estimated 184,000 acres, down 35% from the previous year. Plantings in the Virginia-North Carolina region are estimated to total 87,000 acres, down 29% from 2008.

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