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The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut officially started several projects in Ghana this month with a launch meeting to bring together teams of scientists and students from the U.S. and the West African country. The lab is managed out of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences through an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development, but involves scientists from a dozen U.S. universities, as well as institutions across partner countries.

Groundnut breeders across Africa have wondered at the differences they’d see in nuts that were called the same name but didn’t look alike. Last year, a group of breeders from across the continent put together hundreds of lines of peanuts and, under the auspices of the Peanut Innovation Lab, found out just how similar or different their peanut lines are. The scientists from the national programs in nine countries –Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Togo, Gambia, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique – met with U.S. scientists last month to review the data collected through an Innovation Lab project called “Genotypic analysis of peanut germplasm using the Axiom_Arachis2 SNP array.”

Bringing together experts in groundnut research from across Ghana, a new organization of scientists aspires to boost the size of the crop and profit for farmers, improve the quality of groundnuts consumers see at the market and increase the supply of nutritious and safe food served in homes. The Ghana Groundnut Working Group met for the first time in July to explore peanut production, economics, technology and benefits in Ghana. The model for the meeting is the American Peanut Research and Education Society, a 51-year-old organization in the United States that has helped the peanut industry in the Americas weather disease and other production problems over recent decades.

The University of Georgia Southeast Georgia Research and Education Center (SREC) in Midville, Georgia, will host its annual field day on Wednesday, Aug. 14.

Peanut researchers from the University of Georgia met with hundreds of peanut scientists from around the world earlier this week to discuss the international impact of peanut research and to recognize top researchers.

AUBURN, Ala. – The 51st gathering of the American Peanut Research and Education Society brought together hundreds of scientists and students to share cutting-edge research, with a particular focus on the value that international research is having on the U.S. peanut industry. With a theme of “Peanuts Around the World,” the conference called on the Feed the Future Peanut Innovation Lab to demonstrate ways research collaboration has dual benefits for science, industry and agriculture in the U.S. and other countries around the world.

Georgia farmers can learn about agricultural research while interacting with University of Georgia scientists during the annual Sunbelt Field Day in Moultrie, Georgia, on Thursday, July 25.

Scientists, students and advisors working on Peanut Innovation Lab projects in Uganda met in late May for a launch meeting in Kampala to celebrate the start of work and share questions and insight about the direction of projects.

The Peanut Innovation Lab is working not only to find the diversity in modern peanut, but also to introduce new diversity from the wild species. These efforts are aimed at helping to improve future peanut varieties – which already adapts well to different climates – become even more resilient to disease, pests and extreme weather.