DuBoise White– 30,000+ acre farmer (Argentina and Georgia)
Phone interview with Jorge Heraud
His operation:
Peanuts – 30K acres in Argentina
Also, Corn 1K and Soybeans 1K and Cotton 1K in Georgia.
Even though GMO peanuts don’t exist, he is using chemical solutions. He uses DuPont’s Cagery herbicide. He has found that it’s strong enough to kill weeds yet penuts resist it with minimal damage. The herbicide acts both on contact and it has residual effects. He does a second application with cheaper chemical. In Argentina chemical costs about $40/acre. In the US it’s about $70 in herbicide. He needs to apply 3-4 times and it costs about $3.50per hectare for application or $6 per acre in total application costs.
He does not have huge weed problems right now, but is concerened over herbicide reistance happening with Glyphosate eg Pig-weed. Liberty Link / Ignite might prolong ability to use chemical for a while, but he sees this as a losing battle with nature. Also he is getting more concerned over customer perception and acceptance. Less chemical use is highly important to consumer. Killing weed using a blade is the long term solution – “Plants can’t become resistant to a piece of steel”
He has a penut processing plant. He processes organic and convencional penuts. He asked people that grow organic penuts and they are spendig $250 per acre in weeding.
He believes there are about 10,000 acres of organic peanuts, but they are growing fast, he estimates 20 – 30% per year.
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