Rick Brandenburg

This proposal focuses on the evaluation of complete production systems based on previous research conducted in the region through national research institutes, ICRISAT, and as a part of the previous Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation Lab on individual treatments effects. This project will investigate the investment in multiple interventions and the return on those investments relative to yield, quality, costs, and aflatoxin contamination. The goal is to develop profitable and sustainable peanut production practices that offer incremental steps with inputs and interventions. Previous research on planting and harvest dates, plant populations and row spacing as well as inoculant, gypsum and pest management inputs have documented individual treatment benefits. The next logical step is to package these practices into whole program across numerous cultivars and measure the cumulative effects in a stepwise manner. This will reveal detailed overall and individual impacts in a system to provide insight into the value of each intervention for yield, profitability, and aflatoxin contamination at both the smallholder and corporate farm level.

The project will include four objectives designed to: 1) demonstrate the value of improved production and pest management practices with currently available cultivars and elite varieties that have been recently released; 2) develop a local seed supply chain at the village level that improves quality, seed purity and maintains genetic potential of elite varieties; 3) demonstrate the benefits of cropping sequence and intensity on yield and economic return of peanut, maize, and other appropriate crops in the region; and 4) validate the pest management risk tool developed for Ghana in the commissioned project. Practices that will be demonstrated in villages will build on previous research findings and experiences with Peanut CRSP and PMIL. Successful completion of this project will increase yield and quality of peanut and economic return for farmers through the use of improved varieties and pest management practices. The risk tool will improve food safety through improved practices that minimize aflatoxin production.

The development of new insecticides in peanuts has been limited in recent years. There is a dire need for new products against rootworms and spider mites. The fear of insecticide resistance and the recent loss of older products (Lorsban??) makes the need to investigate new products more critical. The threat of new pests such as burrower bugs also requires the development of more robust insect management strategies than currently exist. Insecticide development is not only prohibited by the cost of registering new insecticides, inconsistent insect infestations that limit the use of some products in certain years, but also the comparatively small acreage for peanuts. As a result, peanuts are considered a low priority for new insecticide products and the companies have provided very little funding to support peanut insecticide research. We do have very specific needs for further insecticide evaluations to update cost-effective insect control in North Carolina peanuts. This project will provide an increased evaluation of recently developed products beyond what the agrichemical industry has been willing to support the past ten years. Currently, peanut entomology is in a time of transition from the leadership of Rick Brandenburg (now on phased retirement) into a maintenance phase to keep the program viable until the position is refilled. The key element is keeping Brian Royals employed and on task conducting numerous trials to solve the continuing insect management concerns while maintaining program productivity. Funding for this project will be combined with limited agrichemical industry funding to further build a viable screening program by funding a portion of a technician???s salary, and vehicle fuel and maintenance costs.

The purpose of this project is to develop recommendations for peanut growers relative to the decisions they will make on variety selection, fertilizer applications, regulation of plant growth, and harvesting. This project will also help growers improve pest management by developing new strategies and refinement of currently accepted integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. Controlling Palmer amaranth and other problematic weeds in peanut is important to obtain optimum yields and this project will include herbicide evaluations and their interaction with cultural practices. Knowing the impact of cropping systems on peanut yield and economic return in the entire production system will help growers make informed decisions on crop mixes given fluctuations in crop prices. This project will define important interactions so that growers will know how to manage pests in peanuts given their previous rotation strategies. Determining when to dig peanut is one of the most important decisions a peanut grower will make during the season. With expansion in peanut production across North Carolina and presence of Cooperative Extension agents and other people in agribusiness with limited experience with peanut, assistance with pod maturity clinics prior to harvest is essential. Funds requested for this project will be used to address important issues faced by virtually all peanut growers. Active engagement of Cooperative Extension Service agents in problem solving will also be included in this project.

Growers often prefer to see results from large-scale, on-farm research that are developed locally to assist them with management decisions. The research community also has demonstrated that using larger plots often leads to better results from testing. The challenge has always been land and resource allocation needed to compare many treatments and treatment combinations. Small-plot testing has been an effective option and is reflective of treatment differences in some but not all instances. To address the need to compare some treatments in larger plots, the NCPGA, Extension Administration, faculty in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, and several agribusiness companies purchased a dump cart with the capacity to weigh large quantities of peanuts in the field and dump peanuts into large, tractor trailers. This equipment will facilitate a greater number of experiments with larger plots and will result in a greater number of Extension agents conducting on-farm research. The dump cart was built in spring 2021 and was used to harvest peanuts in replicated trials in five counties (10 trials). The goal in 2022 is to expand research to additional counties. Extension specialists and agents will coordinate approximately 15 trials in 2022 comparing varieties, pest management treatments and plant growth regulators based on discussions in spring 2022. The NCPGA will also provide input into what comparisons need to be made.

The development of new insecticides in peanuts has been limited in recent years. The fear of insecticide resistance and the recent loss of older products (Lorsban??) makes the need to investigate new products more critical. The threat of new pests such as burrowing bug also requires the development of more robust insect management strategies than currently exist. Insecticide development is not only prohibited by the cost of registering new insecticides, inconsistent insect infestations that limit the use of some products in certain years, but also the comparatively small acreage for peanuts. As a result, peanuts are considered a low priority for new insecticide products and the companies have provided very little funding to support peanut insecticide research. We do have very specific needs for further insecticide evaluations to update cost effective insect control in North Carolina peanuts.

Aflatoxin contamination in maize and peanut is often correlated to yield as both are significantly impacted by drought. Previous studies by Lobell and Burke (see references) have documented the use of satellite images to assess maize yield and plant responses in Africa. The ability to determine yield is valuable but if we use that ability to indirectly forecast aflatoxin contamination levels and guide the use interventions, then even greater value is achieved. The anticipated relationship is focused on drought, yield, and aflatoxin. A collaborative link with an active program at the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University provides an opportunity to test that link with ground data. Current relationships with existing USAID programs, corporate farms and research institutions in Malawi provide a unique opportunity to obtain data from numerous of locations throughout Malawi and allow collaborators in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University to provide the satellite image assessment. This information can be linked with the decision/risk tools that are proposed in another PIL project to improve decision making and the deployment of actions to minimize aflatoxin contamination. Overall, this approach can provide faster and more accurate risk assessments. As stated by Burke and Lobell (2017) ????????????????Such datasets could rapidly accelerate learning about which interventions in smallholder systems have the most positive impact, thus enabling more rapid transformation of rural households.???????????????

The development of new insecticides in peanuts has been limited in recent years. The fear of insecticide resistance and the potential loss of older products (Lorsban?????????) makes the need to investigate new products more critical. The threat of new pests such as burrowing bug also requires the development of more robust insect management strategies than currently exist. Insecticide development is not only prohibited by the cost of registering new insecticides, inconsistent insect infestations that limit the use of some products in certain years, but also the comparatively small acreage for peanuts. As a result, peanuts are considered a low priority for new insecticide products and the companies have provided very little funding to support peanut insecticide research. We do have very specific needs for further insecticide evaluations to update cost effective insect control in North Carolina peanuts.

The USAID-funded Feed the Future Malawi Ag Diversification Activity (MADA) is a five-year initiative to sustainably increase income among Malawi??????????????????s smallholder farmers by building robust market linkages and improved agricultural productivity. The key activity focus areas include: integrating smallholders into commercial markets; unlocking agriculture finance and stimulating private investment; helping farm communities adapt to climate change; improving household nutrition and dietary diversity; and enhancing women and youth empowerment. We note that the agricultural and rural development literature presents substantial support that gender equality and women empowerment in agro-systems has positive implications for productivity, efficiency and food security (Alkire et al. 2013). MADA is building sustainable commercial partnerships to fill gaps in the target value chains - soybeans, groundnuts, and orange- fleshed sweet potato. MADA is also establishing a partnership with Exagris, Horizon Farm, and other organizations that operate anchor farms to become development partners through which new technologies and alternative management practices can be introduced to smallholder farmers. If rigorous evidence is developed supporting the role of anchor farms as effective channels for promoting adoption and scaling technologies such farms could become a strategic entry point for MADA. Key technologies that MADA is promoting in the target value chains include: access to certified improved seeds, inoculation, PICS bags for grain storage and grain marketing, and drip irrigation. Research supported by the current 2013-17 phase of the Feed the Future Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab (PMIL) has focused on several key areas associated with groundnut production and processing in Malawi. These include (1) groundnut breeding conducted in the Peanut Varietal Development project led by Mike Deom at UGA, (2) pre-harvest (planting/harvest date, rotations, drought) and post-harvest (drying, storage, processing for paste and flour) technologies in the Southern Africa Peanut Value Chain Interventions led by Rick Brandenburg at NCSU, and (3) economic analyses in the Southern Africa Pre-Harvest Value Chain Analysis project led by Boris Bravo-Ureta at the University of Connecticut. The breeding activities in Malawi are related to a regional initiative with Zambia, Mozambique and Uganda in partnership with ICRISAT and new varieties are being scaled, also in partnership with Exagris Africa Ltd. Initial efforts linking Exagris to research and seed initiatives have also been particularly successful. Across these projects, PMIL scientists have acquired valuable insights into groundnut production and built strong linkages with ICRISAT, Department of Agriculture Research (DARS) Chitedze Research Station, LUANAR, Exagris and other groups. We anticipate that the RFA from USAID for the next phase of PMIL will be forthcoming in the near future and feel confident we will be successful in securing a new five-year project (2017-2022) focused on improving peanut production. We propose three joint research projects between PMIL and MADA beginning with the rainy season starting December 2017 and continuing through 2020. These will focus on investigating 1) the impacts of drip irrigation combined with alternative management practices on groundnut yield and quality (refined production practices and scheduling under irrigation), 2) cost-benefit analyses of drip irrigation and Alternative Management Practices that have been developed by PMIL researchers and employed by Exagris out-growers that could be considered for scaling-up by MADA as well as serving as a baseline for impact assessments, and 3) an improved groundnut seed supply and availability (more varieties, better quality and germination, better distribution). Given the diverse nature of the proposed research and numerous partners, we proposed to utilize the existing PMIL Management Entity hosted at the University of Georgia to provide overall coordination and management. The PMIL Director and A

The objective of this project is to provide accelerated training and technical support to extension agents and other trainers, scientists, and agents in peanut production practices.