In-Storage Treatments for the Protection of Farmers Stock Peanuts from Insect Damage--Exploratory Tests

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Marketing peanuts involves storing large quantities of farmers stock peanuts in commercial storage. Very few producers have facilities for storage on their farms. Therefore, almost all of the peanuts placed under price-support loans are stored in warehouses operating under Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) uniform storage contract. In most years a large part of these loan stocks is delivered to CCC in satisfaction of the loan. In recent years CCC has carried over into the new marketing year a portion of its inventories as a reserve, disposing of the rest as the market demands. As a result, large quantities of peanuts remain in commercial-type storage for as long as 18 months, which has presented the problem of protecting them from insects during the storage period. Insect infestation becomes a serious problem in the stocks stored through the late spring and summer months. Two approaches to control were explored. The first approach was the use of "surface" treatments applied to the top surface of piles of bulk farmers stock peanuts at intervals, and the second, the use of "protective" treatments applied to the entire lot of peanuts as they were placed in the storage bins. Such treatments must not leave an insecticidal residue on the peanuts in excess of established tolerances. The studies reported in this paper were conducted between 1953 and 1958, at Tifton, Ga. , a location considered representative of a large part of the peanut-producing areas in the United States.