Peanuts on a South Georgia farm ready for harvest (photo courtesy Joy Carter)
The bill would eliminate direct payments to farmers and replace them with a new insurance program. The insurance is government-subsidized and sets minimum prices on peanuts per ton.
Don Koehler with the Georgia Peanut Commission says the prices are set using 10 year-old historical data and they’re too low.
“Our yields are far above what the established county averages that were established ten years ago are. We’ve got a host of new peanut varieties that have aided over 2,000 pounds to the acre in yield potential to our farmers.”
Koehler says peanuts are at a disadvantage because their prices are not set on the futures market, making them more vulnerable to wild price swings. The current farm bill expires in 2013.
