By Laura Simmons
April 3, 2011
For my enterprise paper I chose to write about the VA peanut industry and it's impact on the global peanut market. When I began my research I didn't know where to start. After contacting almost every peanut company in existence in Virginia, I started to see some results. My questions about the industry were met with overwhelming responses from peanut growers, shellers and sellers. I learned that the "Virginia" peanut is a gourmet peanut type that is mostly sold in the U.S, but is also sold on a global level. I also learned that while the U.S. had a global presence in the market historically, recently the industry has fallen behind China and Argentina. When speaking to the head of a "shelling" company (a business that buys peanuts from farmers and shells and cleans them before selling them to companies like Planters and Jif), he admitted that farmers in the U.S are pulling away from the peanut company because it is not as lucrative as other crops like cotton and soy. In addition, food safety is a huge issue with the peanut industry especially after serious salmonella scares that happened a few years ago in a peanut company located in Lynchburg, VA. Farmers are discouraged to grow peanuts because it requires such expensive food sanitation processes. But, there is still a lot of new research being done on peanut breeding and quality, which will hopefully re-vamp the U.S industry.
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