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Farmer Spotlight: Lucas Killam of Jay, Florida

This week’s Farmer Spotlight is Lucas Killam from Jay, Florida! 🥜🌱

We had a blast visiting with Lucas at his barn a few weeks ago! Jay has a bountiful amount of ideal farm land for peanuts: flat, fertile and due to its proximity to the coast, fields does not require much irrigation and can easily achieve a bumper crop.

Lucas has been farming peanuts his whole life, but he started farming his own peanuts in 1996, nearly 22 years ago. His favorite part about farming peanuts is digging peanuts. Lucas adds “it’s just in my blood and I can’t get away from it”, in regards to what he loves most about peanut farming. Like other farmers, Lucas does not only grow peanuts, but also cotton.

When asked his favorite way to eat peanuts, Lucas said he favored boiled peanuts. We also like to ask farmers if they prefer creamy or crunchy peanut butter, and Lucas replied with “creamy”.

One difficult question we asked Lucas was to tell us what has been the most challenging part of farming for him, and he explained it has been the “financing side of farming, managing everything…especially being young.” This is very relatable for all farmers, simply because a major part of farming is the business side. Lucas’ prediction for this year’s peanut crop is that “It’s looking pretty good now I’m shooting for making a good crop.” Lucas informed us that one thing farming has taught him is to “be patient”…we couldn’t agree more!

To see pictures and view story on Facebook, click here https://www.facebook.com/floridapeanutproducersassociation/posts/214184055882730?comment_id=214341609200308&notif_id=1532969849954524&notif_t=feed_comment

Peanut Farmer Spotlight: Mickey Diamond, Jay, Florida

Visiting our peanut farmers in their fields has became something we truly enjoy! It gives us a chance to get to know them better and provide an insight to their farming journey to the public! Today’s Peanut Farmer Spotlight is Mickey Diamond from Jay, Florida 🥜

“I put the crop in the ground and let God do the rest.” – Mickey Diamond

Mickey has been farming peanuts for 35 years and also farms cotton. His favorite part of peanut farming is digging the peanuts, and boiled is his preferred way of eating peanuts. Mickey prefers creamy over crunchy peanut butter as well!

The most challenging part of peanut farming to Mickey has been the market side of peanut farming, “you don’t know really what the end of the year is gonna bring…but it’s also knowing how to plan next year with what the acres are going to be.” Mickey also explained that he plants the same acres of peanuts, he just changes rotation from year to year.

Mickey’s prediction for this year’s peanut crop is that as of right now, it looks like an average crop… “I don’t see a bumper crop because we had a rough start but maybe we can come out with an average crop…that’s what I’m praying for.”

With Mickey farming peanuts for 35 years, we asked him when he knew he wanted to be a peanut farmer. Mickey explained, “When I started farming, I loved the dirt too much and that’s all I’ve ever done all my life and I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else; if I had to do something else, I would be flying an airplane over the crop.”

Farmer Spotlight: Ryan Jenkins from Jay, Florida

Today’s peanut farmer spotlight is Ryan Jenkins from Jay, Florida 🥜

“When you love farming, it can be your worst day…everything can tear up but that night when you’re laying in bed, you absolutely cannot wait to go back the next day” – Ryan Jenkins

Ryan has been farming peanuts for 23 years, and also farms cotton, soybeans, corn, wheat, and oats. When asked what his favorite part was about farming peanuts, Ryan explained that is was honestly just farming in general. Ryan is not a planner, so farming works out good for him because it’s always changing, he doesn’t do the same thing everyday. He also loves watching them grow and keeping up with different herbicide and fungicide programs. To Ryan, and many other farmers, an advantage of farming is that it’s seasonal and each season brings a new task, such as digging or harvesting.

Ryan’s favorite way to eat peanuts are boiled, and added that there is nothing like the first boil of the year on July 4th. When asked if he prefers creamy or crunchy peanut butter, Ryan responded with creamy!

The most challenging part of peanut farming for Ryan has been that no matter how hard you work, things just don’t work out sometimes; you can control a lot but you can’t control the weather and breakdowns.

Ryan’s prediction for this year’s peanut crop is that in the area he is located in, the crops look strong. He believes that with optimism and faith, it’ll all work out in the end.
Some advice for young farmers that Ryan would like to share is to lean on their elders experience, be in touch with technology, and talk to God everyday. (We LOVE that advice!)

See pictures and Facebook article by clicking here —>  https://www.facebook.com/floridapeanutproducersassociation/posts/199224380712031?notif_id=1531318312861948&notif_t=page_post_reaction