T.E. Moye, Jr. of Newton, GA was one of the winners of the 10th Annual Peanut Profitability Awards, sponsored by Farm Press. The awards are based on production efficiency and honor those growers who produce the highest yields at the lowest cost per acre. In addition, they are based on a producer’s entire farm operation – not just on individual farms or small plots.

Moye runs a diversified farming operation with cattle, peanuts, corn and sometimes cotton. He credits timely rain from Tropical Storm Faye last year for helping him gross $1000 an acre from his peanuts, but overall, he says it is precision farming technology that has really paid off for him. “No doubt in my mind that we can save in some instances 1000 pounds to the acre (at harvest) so with peanuts at $500 a ton, 1000 pounds to the acre will pay for your guidance system pretty quick,” he says. “You got to plant it with the guidance system and then you got to plow them up with that guidance system.”

“With profitability, when I spend something, I want it to make me money,” Moye said. “I think we probably paid for that guidance system in one year.”

Listen to my interview with T.E. here: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/peanuts/spgc09-moye.mp3]