This program is the first to be implemented under the Commodity Promotion, Research and Consumer information Act of 1996. USDA conducted the referendum. Results of the referendum indicate the 66.56 percent of producers, who were eligible to vote and exercised their right to vote, favored implementation of the order. The Order will become effective for the 1999 crop of peanuts. Jimmy Mason, President of the North Carolina Peanut Growers Association, is very excited about possibilities.
Peanuts are delicious, nutritious, and can be part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Approval of the plan is the culmination of two years work by peanut producer groups and the American Farm Bureau. Charles Harden, a peanut producer from Bertie County served as co-chair of the working group that submitted the plan to USDA for approval. For the past two years, the Peanut Institute, an organization formed by peanut shellers and principally funded by shellers but receiving support from manufacturers and growers has sponsored research at major universities. The results these research projects are spectacular. We can now make nutritional claims and back them up with researchers from Harvard or Penn State University.