A Pea or a Nut? Contrary to popular opinion, the peanut is not reallya nut such as a pecan or walnut. It is actually a closerelative of the black-eyed pea, a legume. Legumesare plants in which the roots contain nodules ofnitrogen fixing bacteria which return remarkableamounts of nitrogen to the soil. Naturally, thepeanut is a perfect crop to rotate in with soildepleting plants like cotton.

Archeologists have discovered that peanuts, native toSouth America, have been used for thousands ofyears. However, President Thomas Jefferson andfamous botanist George Washington Carver playedkey roles in placing the peanut firmly in the UnitedStates. Thomas Jefferson, a botanist himself,contributed to the peanut’s increased popularitywhen he became the first American president knownto grow peanuts. The peanut then began its journeythrough America during the Civil War wheresoldiers, both Northern and Southern, subsisted onits rich nutritional components. The peanut wasknown throughout the South as a goober pea. Theword goober comes from the Congo name forpeanuts - nguba. Slaves coming to North Americafrom Africa brought peanuts with them.

Carver, who many consider the father of the peanutindustry, encouraged farmers to plant peanuts andwas credited with turning peanuts into a majorcash crop from 1900-1950. Carver’s strategy forincreasing their popularity was his development ofmore than 300 uses for peanuts, including paperfrom peanut shells, shaving cream, shoe polish,axle grease, and ink.

The peanut is a delicious protein-packed food.More than 25% of the peanut is pure protein--ahigher percentage than the protein content of eggs,milk, meat, or fish. The climate, soil, and longgrowing season of south Georgia provide excellentgrowing conditions for this crop.

How It Grows! The peanut is unusual because it flowers above theground, but fruits below the ground. A commonmisconception about peanuts is that they grow ontrees (like walnuts or pecans) or that they grow aspart of a root, like potatoes. Not true!

Peanut seeds (kernels) grow into a green oval-leafedplant about 18 inches tall which develops delicateyellow flowers around the lower portion of theplant. The flowers pollinate themselves and thenlose their petals as the fertilized ovary begins to

enlarge. The budding ovary grows down away fromthe plant, forming a small stem, or “peg” whichextends into the soil. The peanut embryo is in thetip of the peg, which penetrates the soil. Theembryo turns horizontal to the soil surface andbegins to mature taking the form of the peanut.From planting to harvesting, the growing cycle takesabout four to five months, depending on the variety.Depending on its care, one peanut plant mayproduce more than 40 peanuts!

Peanut Varieties Worldwide, the United States is surpassed in peanutproduction only by China and India. In the U.S.,peanuts are cultivated in Georgia, Alabama, Florida,NewMexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, SouthCarolina, Texas, and Virginia. Today nearly half ofthe peanut crop in the U.S. is grown in Georgia.

The four varieties of peanuts grown in United Statesare: Runner, Virginia, Spanish, and Valencia. Each isused for a different purpose.

Runners have become the dominant type. A highproportion of these are used for peanut butter.Runners grow mainly in Georgia, Alabama, Florida,Texas, and Oklahoma.

Virginias have the largest kernels and account formost of the peanuts roasted and eaten from theshells. When shelled, the larger kernels are sold assalted peanuts. Virginias are grown mainly in south-eastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Spanish type peanuts are used mostly in peanutcandy, salted nuts, and peanut butter. They are alsoused to make oil, because they have a higher oilcontent than the other types of peanuts. They areprimarily grown in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Valencias, which are grown in NewMexico, are verysweet peanuts and are usually roasted and sold in theshell. These peanuts are excellent for boiling, atraditional way of eating them in the South.

Peanuts

National Park ServiceU.S. Department of the Interior

Jimmy CarterNational Historic Site

Jimmy Carter

EXPER I ENCE YOUR AMER I CA

Planting and Harvesting Methods of peanut planting and harvesting havegreatly changed over the years. Specializedmachinery now replaces fields full of farmemployees doing the work manually. Unlike apea, the peanut plant produces its pods under theground. When mature, the plants and their peanutsare harvested in a series of operations.

When the plant has matured and the peanuts areready to be harvested, the farmer waits until the soilis not too wet or too dry before digging. Whenconditions are right, he drives his digger up anddown the green rows of peanut plants. The diggerloosens the plant and cuts the tap root. Just behindthe blade, a shaker lifts the plant from the soil, gentlyshakes the dirt from the peanuts, rotates the plant,and lays the plant back down in a “windrow,”peanuts up and leaves down.

Drying is the next important step. When dug,peanuts contain 25 to 50% moisture. Peanuts aregenerally left in the windrows to dry for 2 or moredays in the field for the first part of their dryingprocess.

In the next step, called combining, the pods areremoved from the vines, cleaned, stemmed, andconveyed into a bulk bin on the combine. Theremaining parts of the plant are returned to the soiland later plowed under or are baled as hay.

The last step is called curing. The peanuts aredumped into wagons and cured to 10% moisturewith warm air forced up through the perforatedfloors of the wagons. If the peanuts are to be usedfor seed, they are treated with chemicals to preventinsects and mold damage and then stored until thenext planting season. If they are to be converted tooil, peanut butter, or eaten whole, they are shelledand processed for that product.

Peanut “roots” inthe Carter family

The popularity of and curiosity about the peanutgrew significantly during the successful 1976presidential campaign that put Jimmy Carter in theWhite House. The image of the peanut in caricaturewas seen around the world as a symbol of not only apresident, but also the town of Plains. Born in 1924,James Earl Carter, Jr. grew up on his parents’ 360-acre farm. In Carter’s early years, his father begangrowing peanuts, a crop that made a great impact onhis life. His family first raised the small Spanishpeanuts, which were used as salted nuts, in candybars, and some varieties for hog feed. At the age offive, Carter sold boiled peanuts on the streets ofPlains.

When Jimmy was growing up on the farm, threeacres of land produced a ton of peanuts, generatingabout sixty dollars in income, which for the time wasan excellent return. During the harvest season,every able-bodied person was needed for the peanutharvest. Of this experience, Carter later wrote: “TThheekkeeyy ttoo ppeeaannuutt hhaarrvveesstt wwaass tthhee tthhrreesshhiinngg mmaacchhiinnee,,wwhhiicchh wwee ccaalllleedd aa ‘‘ppiicckkeerr’’ bbeeccaauussee iitt ppiicckkeedd tthhee nnuuttssffrroomm tthhee vviinneess.. IItt wwaass mmoosstt oofftteenn ddrriivveenn bbyy aa ffllaatt bbeellttffrroomm tthhee rreeaarr aaxxllee oorr wwhheeeell ooff aa ttrruucckk,, aanndd tthhee ddrriieeddssttaacckkss wweerree hhaauulleedd ttoo iitt oonn wwooooddeenn sslleeddss,, eeaacchh ppuulllleeddbbyy aa mmuullee.. TThhee nnuuttss wweerree ccoolllleecctteedd iinn aa bbaasskkeett oorrwwaasshhttuubb aanndd dduummppeedd iinnttoo aa ppiicckkuupp ttrruucckk oorr wwaaggoonn;;tthhee nnuuttrriittiioouuss ddrriieedd vviinneess wweerree bbaalleedd ffoorr aanniimmaall ffeeeedd..TThhiiss wwaass aa bbiigg aanndd iimmppoorrttaanntt ooppeerraattiioonn,, aannddiinnvvoollvveedd aallll tthhee mmeenn oonn tthhee ppllaaccee.”

When Earl Carter died in 1953, his son, Jimmy,resigned from his career in the U.S. Navy to returnto Plains to manage his father’s farm supply businessand several hundred acres of land. Jimmy laterdecided that instead of just buying and resellingcertified seed as his father had done in his business,it would be more profitable if he started growing thepeanut seed himself. The increased income enabledhim to expand the warehouse operation. Carter’sWarehouse not only included the sale of certifiedseed peanuts, custom peanut shelling and the buyingand storing of peanuts, but it included the service ofsupplying liquid nitrogen, bulk fertilizer and lime.The warehouse also bought corn, provided customgrinding and mixing, and ginned cotton. Fire andcasualty insurance were also available through theCarter agri-business.

While he served as president, Jimmy Carter placedthe family farm supply business into the protectionof a blind trust before he left for Washington, D.C.in 1977. This trust allowed for a law firm in Atlantato take full administration of the farm supplybusiness during his years in the White House. The

Carters felt that relinquishing the business tosomeone else’s care would separate them from theseaffairs and avoid the possibility of their financialholdings resembling any conflict of interest whilePresident Carter was in office. Their personalcounsel, Charles Kirbo of the Atlanta law firm, wastheir financial trustee. Following the election loss in1981, the Carters were informed by Charles Kirbothat because of three years of drought and severalchanges in warehouse management, they were over$1 million in debt.

As they struggled to recover from the unexpectedfinancial blow, the solution to their problem becameevident. The Carters sold the family business andalso began writing books, which helped them torecover financially.

The Carters have personal land holdings in Sumterand Webster Counties, Georgia. In the past, theselands were used for agriculture and timberproduction. After their return from the WhiteHouse, the Carters reassessed their land use.Expanding on their commitment to good landstewardship, the Carters manage their land to beeconomically productive and to provide for wildlifeand recreation. Their land has also become acertified Tree Farm. The Carters not only set a goodexample, but they publicly share their views onstewardship, reforestation, conservation, andprotection of the environment.

Peanuts are still the mainstay of economy in Plains.This town of about 700 people supports two peanutprocessing warehouses and celebrates the harvest ofthe peanut with a hometown celebration, the 4thweekend in September.

Stacking peanuts in the early 1900s

Carter’s Warehouse