2026 Peanut Efficiency Winners: Cost Squeeze, Water Worries Top the Agenda

2026 Peanut Efficiency Winners on Costs, Water and Risk

Farm Press honored four peanut operations at its annual Peanut Efficiency Awards Breakfast on July 23 in Panama City Beach, Fla., then put the winners on stage for a panel discussion moderated by Marshall Lamb, leader of the USDA National Peanut Research Laboratory and adviser to the awards program. The 2026 honorees were Bryan and Brendan Babb of Babb Farms in Windsor, Va. (Upper Southeast); Jason Barksdale of Sylvester, Ga. (Lower Southeast); Lonnie Fortner of Port Gibson, Miss. (Mississippi Delta); and Henry Froese of Seagraves, Texas (Southwest).

The conversation quickly turned to the pressures shaping peanut farming. Barksdale said the cost of production has become so high he struggles to comprehend it, and argued growers have no choice but to try new approaches. Bryan Babb said profitability now requires near-perfect conditions, describing the operation's goal as hitting a home run every year while knowing some years it will not. Fortner said wildlife damage forces him to plan for losing about 10% of yield on much of what he farms. Froese raised the long-term depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer and said saltwater intrusion is already appearing in his fields, with salt pressure capable of crashing peanut vines in late September before they mature.

On disease management, practices varied by region. The Babbs run a fungicide application over the top of their Virginia peanut crop every two to three weeks starting in July and continuing until digging begins, including sprays on later-planted fields. Fortner relies on a four-shot fungicide program sitting on top of a strict crop rotation, which he credits for keeping disease pressure low. Both cited consultants and extension specialists as central to treatment decisions.

The panelists layered risk management with insurance and production discipline. Barksdale buys coverage for every acre plus supplemental policies, while Fortner — farming along the Mississippi River — pays flood-rated property insurance premiums and stacks agronomic policies on top. On technology, the winners split. Bryan Babb tracks equipment and fuel from his phone and credits planter row shut-offs with major seed savings, while his son Brendan warned that chasing every new tool can break a budget. Fortner is an early adopter, using technology to do more with less labor, while Froese and Barksdale prefer to wait and see.

What the Winners' Playbooks Say About Peanut Farming's Pressure Points

Why the Cost Squeeze Dominated the Panel

The most consistent theme was margin pressure. Barksdale said production costs are now so immense he cannot get his head around them, and Bryan Babb framed profitability as a matter of perfect conditions — the right rain at the right times, on top of already-expensive inputs. The shared response was not one strategy but a willingness to experiment: Barksdale argued growers have to try new things. That points to an industry where input inflation is pushing even established operations to question practices they have long relied on.

The Ogallala: A Structural Threat in Froese's Fields

Froese connected two problems that are increasingly hard to separate on the Texas High Plains: a falling water table and rising salt in the water that remains. His account of salt crashing peanut vines in late September is a threat to maturity and quality, not just yield. The panel offered no fix, and Froese framed it as an open question of how people will adapt. For growers irrigating from the aquifer, the practical implication is that water quality now matters alongside water quantity — potentially shifting variety selection, planting timing and irrigation practices in coming seasons.

How the Winners Layer Risk at Farm Level

Risk management on the panel was built in layers. Barksdale buys insurance for every acre plus supplemental policies and said plainly that he does not want to file a claim. Fortner's Mississippi River location shows how place shapes the stack: his land carries flood-risk ratings whether or not it floods, so he layers agronomic policies on top and defends the production side with rotation and soil health. His decision to budget for about 10% wildlife-related yield loss treats a chronic problem as a planning input rather than a surprise. Across all three approaches, the winners treated risk as a cost to plan around, not an event to react to.

The Generational Split on Technology Spending

The technology discussion laid out a real tension in modern peanut farming. Bryan Babb's remark that his technology bill exceeds his own salary — with no raise in 38 years — shows how capital-intensive precision agriculture can be, even when it pays off. Brendan Babb's warning that chasing every new tool can break a budget is the counterweight: savings from planter row shut-offs and ExactApply sprayers are real, but so is the risk of spending on equipment that never justifies itself. Fortner's early-adopter stance reflects a different constraint — a four-crop rotation and limited labor leave him no choice but to do more with less. The split suggests technology decisions are driven less by enthusiasm than by each operation's labor, capital and scale.

Field-Tested Practices From the 2026 Award-Winning Growers

For peanut growers and the agronomists, consultants and insurers who serve them, the panel offered a set of concrete, field-tested practices:

• Match fungicide intensity to regional pressure. In Virginia, the Babbs apply fungicide over the top every two to three weeks from July until digging; in the Mississippi Delta, Fortner holds disease pressure down with a four-shot program built on a strict rotation.
• Layer insurance deliberately. Barksdale covers every acre plus supplemental policies; Fortner stacks agronomic policies on top of flood-rated property coverage. Review coverage against your location-specific risks — including standing flood ratings even in years without flooding.
• Budget for chronic losses. Fortner plans for roughly 10% wildlife-related yield loss on much of his ground, treating it as a fixed cost rather than a surprise.
• Price technology against labor and seed savings. Babb Farms credits planter row shut-offs with major seed savings and uses equipment-monitoring data to cut idle time; Froese and Barksdale prefer waiting to see what pays off. Run the numbers before buying.
• Watch irrigation water quality, not just quantity. Froese reports saltwater intrusion as the Ogallala drops, with salt pressure capable of stopping peanut maturity in late September — a factor worth monitoring in Southwest fields.