Sustainable U.S. Peanuts Initiative
The American Peanut Council (APC) launched its nationwide sustainability initiative in late 2021, building on a pilot undertaken by the National Peanut Board and the Georgia Peanut Commission. The new initiative will build on this pilot, incorporating the Fieldprint Platform metrics for peanuts from Field to Market, and adding new elements such as a self-assessment questionnaire using a data collection platform for growers. The objectives for the initiative are:
Develop a protocol to verify that peanuts are grown responsibly and by using good agricultural practices accepted by the industry.
Utilize a common data collection platform in collaboration with the cotton industry to make participation as efficient as possible for growers of both crops by avoiding duplication of data entry.
Provide environmental metrics for communication to domestic and international customers, with the assurance that a random sample of growers has been verified.
Communicate best practices and success stories derived from the Sustainable U.S. Peanuts Initiative and other reliable sources to industry stakeholders and their customers.
Drive continuous improvement of farm sustainability and profitability by working collaboratively with shellers, buying points, processors, manufacturers, growers, extension, state grower associations, and other industry groups to find areas of improvement.
Develop the framework proactively so that we can navigate our own course as an industry and avoid having an unfamiliar framework imposed upon the U.S. peanut industry.
Benefits to Growers
Proven system that aligns with the cotton industry, already in place, and provides a single solution for both crops.
Provide a level of assurance to all manufacturers in all markets, notably, international, regarding environmental outcomes and farm management practices in U.S. peanut production.
Consumers are demanding more transparency in how their food is grown. Developing our own sustainability system will enable us to plot our own destiny, with growers engaged from the very beginning.
Working with the cotton industry allows us to understand the sustainability and profitability opportunities across the rotation and use resources more efficiently on the protocol’s development.
Participating growers can compare their self-assessment questionnaire answers to aggregated responses from all grower participants. State and national benchmarks from Field to Market are available to evaluate performance and find ways to maximize productivity.
Prepare for potential future ecosystem services trading systems.
Recognize the trend that consumers in the United States name sustainability of the products they buy as one of the top five drivers for purchase. (IFIC food and health survey, 2021). Sustainability is even more important to customers in Europe and other overseas markets.
