The Peanut Foundation

Investing in Peanut’s Future - 2021 Annual Report

The Peanut Research Foundation (TPRF) made considerable progress in 2021, the second year of the foundation’s Peanut Genome Initiative Phase II (“PGI-II”), despite a lingering global pandemic.

In 2021, USDA and land grant universities imposed COVID-19-related restrictions on travel and laboratory activities, which slowed progress of research in general including ours. Still, our accomplishments were significant.

The Peanut Research Foundation's 2021 Annual Report spotlights some of our 2021 accomplishments, and the people behind that work.

Summary of 2021 Peanut Research Foundation Projects

The Peanut Research Foundation has completed the process of selecting an aflatoxin research project. A special call for aflatoxin related proposals ended in February and the board considered six excellent proposals. The board voted to fund Dr. Peggy Ozias-Akins’ proposal entitled “Genetic Approach to Mitigate Aflatoxin Contamination in Peanut“.

New peanut has a wild past and domesticated present

Researchers dig into the past to create new varieties to improve production

Wild Peanut The wild relatives of modern peanut plants have the ability to withstand disease in ways that peanut plants can’t. The genetic diversity of these wild relatives means that they can shrug off the diseases that kill farmers’ peanut crops, but they also produce tiny nuts that are difficult to harvest because they burrow deep in the soil.

Get the complete article here: https://news.uga.edu/new-peanut-wild-past-domesticated-present/

Peanut Genome Initiative: Research Final Report, October, 2017

In 2012, the U.S. peanut industry charged The Peanut Foundation with initiating a research program to map the genetic code of the peanut plant. The Peanut Genome Initiative (PGI) was — and remains — the largest research project ever funded by our industry, with the $6M cost shared equally among growers, shellers and manufacturers. This is the final report of that five-year program.

2020 Annual Report The Peanut Genome Initiative (PGI-Phase II)

The 2012-2017 Peanut Genome Initiative (PGI) was the largest research project ever funded by our industry, with the $6M cost shared equally among growers, shellers and manufacturers.

The PGI has given us a map with which we can unlock some of the genetic potential of the peanut plant. We now have the capability to find beneficial genes in cultivated and wild peanuts that can lead to even greater yields, lower production costs, lower losses to disease, improved processing traits, improved nutrition, improved safety, better flavor and virtually anything that is genetically controlled by the peanut plant. These accomplishments will depend on incremental scientific advances in gene discovery and the development of markers. Desirable traits will become reality as the result of aggressive breeding programs which are equipped to take advantage of these tools.

Click here for the 2020 Annual Report The Peanut Genome Initiative (PGI-Phase II).

Peanut Genomics Initiative - Phase II, 2019-2022

genomics We intend to continue our focus on marker assisted selection technologies that improve and speed the peanut breeding process and will not invest in GMO research at this time. We do see amazing potential in the recent advances in gene editing. While the USDA has ruled that gene editing does not result in a GMO, the European Union recently ruled that gene editing is a GMO technique.