Million-dollar system to improve peanut quality from plant breeding to candy bars

The peanut industry is getting excited to learn what a new $1 million-plus peanut sheller at Texas A&M AgriLife Foundation Seed in Vernon will mean to improvements in seed production and marketability.

Texas A&M AgriLife and Texas Peanut Producers will host a ribbon-cutting and unveiling ceremony at 3 p.m. Sept. 27 at 11914 Highway 70 S., Vernon.

The sheller is among the first of its kind specifically designed for seed production, said Rick Vierling, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Foundation Seed manager and Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center director at Vernon as well as senior adviser for business strategy for Texas A&M AgriLife. The sheller has a 1-ton per hour capacity and will process lots as small as 250 pounds.

Due to design modifications, the new peanut sheller can reduce split-seed losses to less than 10%. It also offers a rarer ability to process identity-preserved peanuts, allowing food companies to procure peanuts with higher-quality traits.

“Texas A&M AgriLife’s investment in the sheller is a commitment to Texas peanut producers, the peanut industry, food companies and consumers,” Vierling said.

Guest speakers and dignitaries will include Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor of Texas A&M AgriLife, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research; Bob Parker, National Peanut Board president and CEO, Atlanta, Georgia; Shelly Nutt, Texas Peanut Producers Board executive director; Wilbarger County Judge Greg Tyra, Vernon; Grayson Wilmeth, Texas Peanut Producers Board chairman, Dilley; and John Cason, Ph.D., AgriLife Research lead peanut breeder, Stephenville.

“The Texas Peanut Producers Board has invested a lot of money into breeding peanuts suitable for Texas’ growing conditions, but we’ve had a difficult time with our releases because of contamination,” Nutt said. “Having a shelling facility dedicated to preserving quality and seed integrity will solve the contamination problem we’ve had in the past. This will create a better environment for our peanut farmers to grow more and better varieties and for our shellers as they sell seed to be planted that isn’t contaminated with multiple varieties and types of seed.”

Diversity in Entomology to provide top-tier research experience, mentoring for undergraduates

Engaging underrepresented students to create diversity in agriculture and life science fields represents a pressing challenge for the scientific community.

Diversity in Entomology, a project of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology’s Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates, hopes to address recruitment and support deficiencies for underrepresented students beginning in Summer semester 2022. Recruitment of its first cohort is underway now.

The goal of this project is to provide top-tier research experiences that improve students’ problem-solving abilities, and critical and creative thinking and communications skills to prepare them for competitive graduate programs and/or jobs within agriculture and natural resources fields.

The project focuses on mentoring students for success in diverse work environments and providing a support network designed to bolster their success beyond the project.

New practices, technologies could lead to lower production costs, higher demand

New hot pepper agronomic practices and technologies could help rejuvenate the U.S. market and help reduce production costs for producers.

Kevin Crosby, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research professor with Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Horticultural Sciences, Bryan-College Station, is leading a team to make this happen.

The team has received a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Marketing Service Specialty Crops Multi-State Program, USDA-AMS-SCMP, to develop novel solutions.

Implementing these solutions could help reverse a downward trend the U.S. hot pepper market has experienced in recent years due to foreign competition and concerns about production costs and food safety.

Reigniting the U.S. hot pepper market  

The hot pepper market is volatile, Crosby said. Environmental stressors can have major effects on yield, and Mexico’s ability to supply year-round with low labor costs has caused a dependency on imports.

“When the cost of peppers is good, producers love to grow them. When it’s bad, they don’t. Harvesting is expensive, and producers can’t compete with Mexico’s prices,” he said.

Additionally, food safety continues to be a concern, as peppers are susceptible to carrying and spreading potentially harmful pathogens.

“Produce grown in the U.S. could be unaffected by an outbreak, but bad press on imports or in international markets still affects public perception,” Crosby said.

These obstacles have made many U.S. producers apprehensive about growing peppers, despite ideal growing climates in the Southwest and a rise in interest from specialty and niche markets.

But with the support from the USDA-AMS-SCMP, researchers and economists are teaming up to create a solution, identifying target windows in the market for production and sale, and developing new growing practices and cultivars that will give U.S. producers an edge on the competition.

Corporate Affiliates Program invites industry collaboration, innovation, recruitment

The Texas A&M AgriLife Corporate Affiliates Program seeks to forge and strengthen multilateral relationships among industry and agricultural academics across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Corporate Affiliates Program organizers hope to accelerate scientific discovery and agricultural solutions to grand challenges, making them broadly available through industry. The program also aims to foster career growth and placement of promising graduate students across agricultural enterprises, said Carl Muntean, acting director of Texas A&M AgriLife Corporate Engagement and Research Support. 

“The Corporate Affiliates Program represents a mutual opportunity for industry, faculty and students as well as the public beneficiaries of their efforts to grow together in a structured, symbiotic way that benefits everyone involved,” Muntean said.

The program will seek industry collaborators to engage faculty and students within the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. 

An industry open house to engage with Corporate Affiliates Program leaders, faculty and administrators will be held on Sept. 30. 

Texas A&M to lead federal center for optimization of insect farming for feed, food

Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists will explore insect farming for food and feed in response to climate change and shrinking food supplies for a growing global population.

A newly awarded $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation has established the Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming. Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has been assigned as the lead site for the center, which will be a collaborative effort with Mississippi State University, MSU, and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IUPUI. Joining the universities will be 34 U.S. and global industrial partners, including Mars Inc., Tyson Foods and insect farming pioneers such as Aspire Food Groups, Protix and Beta Hatch Inc.