GFB News Magazine
Peanut Show introduces NPB leader & UGA peanut podcast
by Jennifer Whittakerr
Editor, Georgia Farm Bureau News
Posted on March 3, 2024 2:17 PM
Ryan Lepicier, the National Peanut Board’s (NPB) new CEO & president, is no stranger to promoting peanuts nationwide. Lepicier, a 15-year NPB employee, began his new position Jan. 1 following Bob Parker’s retirement Dec. 31.
Speaking at the 47th Annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show & Conference the Georgia Peanut Commission held in January, Lepicier said the NPB has three priorities for 2024:
1) Promotion. “Peanut butter consumption reached an all-time high in 2023 to about 4.4 lbs. per person,” Lepicier said. “We’re proud of the role your National Peanut Board played to make this happen along with the Georgia Peanut Commission and other peanut organizations. In 2024 our theme will be ‘We Grow Comfort.’ This will allow us to talk to school nutritionists and parents about the health benefits of peanuts and to address peanut allergy issues.”
2) Driving Impact of the NPB programs by evaluating their success to decide which ones they continue.
3) Educating consumers about peanut allergies and how early introduction to peanuts can alleviate or reduce children’s peanut allergies.
“The National Peanut Board continues to support research to eradicate peanut allergies and to educate parents and school nutritionists that early introduction of peanut products to children can alleviate or reduce peanut allergies,” Lepicier said.
Ryan Lepicier
In December, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases released an early analysis of data from a clinical trial that shows 165 children and adolescents who received injections of the drug Xolair – a drug already approved for asthma and chronic hives - were able to consume higher doses of foods they were allergic to, such as peanuts, eggs and milk, without triggering an allergic reaction, compared to those who were treated with placebos.
Visit https://nationalpeanutboard.org/peanut-allergy-prevention/ to learn more about NPB’s work to help children with peanut allergies.
All about the Pod
University of Georgia Peanut Team members delivered presentations covering the 2023 peanut crop and what growers can expect in 2024.
Dr. Scott Monfort invited peanut growers to tune into the UGA Peanut Team’s “All About the Pod” podcast available on Spotify https://gfb.ag/spotifyallaboutthepod, Apple Podcasts https://gfb.ag/appleaathepod or https://peanuts.caes.uga.edu.
“This is our way of bringing you to the coffee shop every Friday to talk about peanuts,” Monfort said. “We discuss issues growers are experiencing as they’re happening. We used the podcast last fall to give growers recommendations for harvesting.”
Monfort told growers not to make any drastic changes to how they grow peanuts based on the yield or quality of their 2023 crop.
“Stay on course with proven things,” Monfort said.
Cool and wet weather during the 2023 planting season prevented some seeds from coming up, and plants that did were delayed in blooming by 10 to 16 days, Monfort said. Three weeks of dry weather with high temperatures that began in mid-July during the peak bloom period cost growers yield as did cool temperatures in September.
Although Georgia’s overall peanut production was up 9% in 2023 from 2022, yield per acre was down about 140 lbs./acre according to the 2023 USDA Crop Production report.