Harvest season underway for peanut growers in South Mississippi

Harvest season underway for peanut growers in South Mississippi

FORREST COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - Another peanut harvest season is underway in South Mississippi, but it’s coming a little late this year.

Normally, peanut growers would be nearly finished harvesting their crop. But this year, many are only about a quarter of the way through.

That’s because planting season was delayed.

Alternating weeks of dry, then very wet weather last spring pushed planting back several weeks.

Now, growers are having to harvest many peanuts before they mature, which cuts down on their yields.

“We were late planting, so we had to plant about two or three different times and then had to quit,” said Malcolm Broome, executive director of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association.

“It takes 140 days on all these varieties that we use to be mature, so some of these still need 20 days to be at that 140 days.

But [growers are] gonna have to go ahead and start digging and working and probably have to start digging some a little earlier.“

Broome says harvest season this year could last until Thanksgiving.

He says statewide, only about 45 families are planting peanuts this year.

That’s down from about 75 familie...