Peanuts are a predominant Southern crop, with Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Texas – the top four states in 2021 planted acreage – accounting for over four-fifths of the area planted nationwide. Peanut acreage declined by 5% to 1.58 million planted acres in the US in 2021. This year’s peanut production is projected at 3.15 million tons, which would be a 2.2% increase above 2020. This forecast increase in production comes despite the decreased acreage planted and is driven by a projected 7.7% increase in yield over 2020, to 4,105 pounds per acre.
Figure 1: 2021 Planted Peanut Acreage; Data source: USDA-FSA
The strong peanut demand from the 2020/2021 marketing year is expected to continue and meet production this current marketing year. However, peanut stocks are expected to remain plentiful, above 1 million tons, a slight increase from last year. Prices for the 2021/2022 marketing year are expected to increase to $430/ton. The long-term outlook, as forecast by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), expects prices to remain in a similar range moving forward.
Figure 2: Past and Projected Peanut Prices by Marketing Year; Data sources: USDA-NASS and FAPRI-MU U.S. Agricultural Market Outlook (2021)
Sawadgo, Wendiam. “Peanut Outlook.” Southern Ag Today 1(49.1). November 29, 2021. Permalink
