USDA: Alabama 2nd in the nation in 2022 peanut production

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - Numbers for 2022 estimated peanut production are now in from the USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service (NASS), with Alabama once again coming in as one of the 2 top contributors in the nation.

According to the information released on Monday, which was pushed out in a news release from the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, Alabama peanut growers produced an average of around 558,900,000 pounds of peanuts last year.

Among Alabama’s top 5 county producers of peanuts, Wiregrass area counties ranked in at 3 of the top spots.

Nearly one-fifth of the state’s peanuts came from Houston County, ranking number 1 in the state with 106,960,000 pounds produced, with Geneva coming in 2nd at 71,680,000 pounds. Henry County produced 56,520,000 pounds, which stood as the 4th highest producing peanut county in Alabama.

Two southwestern Alabama counties, Baldwin County and Escambia County, ranked in at #3 and #5, producing 59.09 million pounds and 51.72 million pounds respectively.

”It has been predicted that we will have a better yield this year,” said Kaycee Rippey, communications coordinator with Alabama Peanut Producers Association. “We should see an even higher number than 2021 in 2023 because our top producers will plant peanuts this year and hopefully have a lot more acreage.”

The nearly 559 million pounds produced in Alabama, a little over 10% of U.S. peanut production, ranks second in the nation, with Georgia taking the top spot for its 2.9 billion pounds produced, or over 52% of the nation’s production. In total, the U.S. produced over 5.57 billion pounds of peanuts in 2022.

The USDA in a separate data report on their website also said the U.S. peanut crop in 2022 was 13% smaller than in 2021 due to lower acreage and yields, with smaller crops estimated in all U.S. states except for North Carolina. Tomato spotted wilt virus was tagged as a reduced yield affecter in Georgia in 2022.

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