In Savannah we have a somewhat larger laboratory, a part of which has to do with peanuts. They also work on feed grains, fabrics, insect-resistant packaging, residues, and things of that sort. Of the total staff at Savannah 1.3 professional man-years are devoted to working on peanuts. Their work is much more basic than that at Tifton. It has to do, for example, with the susceptibility of representative peanut insects to inert atmospheric gases. In other words, the staff is working on new methods of trying to control insect infestation by use of nonchemical materials or methods. One of our problems, as you know, is this question of pesticide residues. We are working in the direction of getting away from the use of chemicals. But at the present time we are continuing to work on the chemical methods which will leave little or no harmful residues. Mr. WHITTEN. You mentioned the size of the laboratory. What kind of laboratory is that? Dr. HERRMANN. Our space is furnished by the University of Georgia at the Tifton Experiment Station. It is a very small laboratory. Mr. WHITTEN. Is it a cooperative project with them? Dr. HERRMANN. This is a cooperative project with the Georgia Experiment Station. The work at Savannah is not cooperative with the State experiment station. The facilities consist of a group of temporary-type buildings-quonset hut and frame-that were built by the National Youth Administration back in the 1930's and used by the Navy during World War II. All of them are quite old and not in very good condition. But we happen to own the land in this case, and this is the best we have in the way of a laboratory. Mr. WHITTEN. How much land do you have there? Dr. HERRMANN. Ten acres. We bought it 4 or 5 years ago for $40,000 because we were about to be moved out. The work there is much more basic in nature than at other locations. I would think there are some 17 or 18 people there in total; 1.3 man-years are devoted to peanuts. And the work, I would say, has been very satisfactory. RESEARCH ON PEANUT EQUIPMENT, WORK, AND HANDLING METHODS Mr. WHITTEN. Now we turn to the next one, which is (c): Improved equipment and work and handling methods for efficient drying, shelling, and storage operations. Where are you doing that work now? Dr. HERRMANN. This work has been going on for 3 years at Bainbridge, Ga., and at several other locations. We have an experimental drying or curing installation in Bainbridge, Ga., where they are working with the Georgia, Florida, Alabama Peanut Association. The association is furnishing space to do research on drying or curing of peanuts. This is also a somewhat inadequate temporary structure in which we have installed experimental equipment, which has been very useful to us in developing new methods and equipment for offfarm curing of peanuts. The tendency at the present time seems to be toward increased curing or drying of farmers' stock peanuts off the farm. This is quite common in a number of commodities because of the development of mechanical harvesting. Mr. WHITTEN. How long has this work been going on, and what are you doing there? Dr. HERRMANN. It has been going on for 3 years. It has been quite helpful in developing methods and equipment for drying peanuts properly so they will have the characteristics that the manufacturers and users wish them to have. The problem is oftentimes overheating, which destroys the desirable characteristics present in the peanut. Another line of work, Mr. Chairman, that we mentioned to you last year, was that we were in the process of setting up a small experimental peanut shelling plant. The equipment is now in place. It is located in a rented structure, an old vacated brick gin building, in Dawson, Ga. It is now being operated in connection with a program of experimental shelling of peanuts developed cooperatively by our engineers and sheller representatives of two producing areas. Before moving into this project, we invited representatives of the three sheller associations, that is, from the Texas-Oklahoma, the southeast, and the Virginia-Carolina areas, to meet with our engineers to work out a program which they jointly believe is sound, and useful, so far as each of the producing areas is concerned. So we will be working there not only on peanuts of the Southeast, but we will also be working on the Spanish and Virginia types of peanuts which are being trucked to the experimental facility. Mr. WHITTEN. When I get through here, I am going to ask you to put the same type of information in the record on cotton, tobacco, and various other basic commodities. I am trying to make the record now on peanuts, to show what the full situation is. OTHER RESEARCH ON PEANUTS What other research are you doing with regard to peanuts and where is that work located? I am talking about the entire Department now. Dr. HERRMANN. Well, we have some other more basic work—a very little going on at Beltsville in which we are trying to work out methods of determining the maturity of peanuts, by light absorption, in pretty much the same way we have done and are doing with other commodities, such as apples, eggs, plums, potatoes, oranges, etc. You recall we have talked about apples in this connection in the past, and about detecting blood spots in eggs. This is a question of passing light through a product in order to determine what its characteristics are. And this may develop into something that might be useful in connection with our properly sorting the mature and immature peanuts. Mr. WHITTEN. I am asking about all of the Department. You can confer with the proper officials later and extend what you may give us. You have been with the Department long enough to know what work is going on, whether it comes under your surveillance or not. What other research work in connection with peanuts is going on? Dr. HERRMANN. I do know that, in the Southern Regional Utilization Research and Development Laboratory at New Orleans, the last time we checked, $69,000 was allocated to finance the research in fiscal year 1962 and three professional men were working on developing new and expanded industrial and other uses for peanuts. Their research is confined to this particular area. Mr. WHITTEN. How is it possible at New Orleans to study how to better utilize peanuts without in turn dealing with quality? Dr. HERRMANN. Well, they are dealing with quality in terms of trying to develop new industrial and other uses for peanuts. Mr. WHITTEN. Improving the quality isn't that the first start toward using something? They are not interested in quality? Dr. HERRMANN. Yes, utilization is interested in quality but not from the viewpoint of improving grades and standards and methods and equipment for measuring market quality objectively. They are interested in quality as related to the development of a new product or an extended use. Marketing research in pursuing its responsibility for improving market quality is concerned with the effect on quality of variety, cultural practices, maturity, curing, shelling, storage conditions, handling, and residues from treatments to prevent insect damage in storage. Mr. WHITTEN. Yet I have had a good deal of correspondence lately from cottonseed people who are very much upset. They say the Department of Agriculture stopped them from using the cottonseed oils or vegetable oils in peanut butter. I checked and found out that it was a case of labeling. The peanut butter people were told by the Food and Drug people to show a proper label. Further, in talking to the peanut folks, they said they needed the cottonseed oil because peanut oil would tend to separate from the peanut butter, whereas the vegetable oils would keep it from separating or stabilize it I believe is the word they would use. LOCATIONS OF PEANUT RESEARCH Now you are not doing any work in Texas or in the southwestern region on peanuts at all? Dr. HERRMANN. We have had one contract in Texas for a couple of years. That contract-entered into in 1961-has to do with an attempt to determine the causes of a bitter flavor in products processed from peanuts produced in the southwest area. This is a contract that is financed jointly by AMS and the Southwestern Peanut Shellers Association on a 50-50 basis. Mr. WHITTEN. Who is doing it? Dr. HERRMANN. The Agricultural Experiment Station at Texas A. & M. is doing the work. The production research of ARS is rather widely scattered. As you probably heard last year, the Agricultural Research Service has a small amount of peanut harvesting work at Holland, Va. They also have some scientists there working in other lines, such as production entomology and improved varieties and cultural practices. I understand that there are also a number of ARS scientists stationed in North Carolina and at Tifton, Ga., working on production problems. I have no information regarding ARS peanut research in Texas or Oklahoma. Mr. WHITTEN. I would like you to supply the various places where research work is going on for peanuts, either in production, quality or utilization. Also provide a description of the work at the New Orleans Laboratory. (The information is as follows:) Estimated obligations for USDA research on peanuts, fiscal year 19631 Production research: Agricultural Research Service: SUMMARY Crops-production, breeding, quality, and disease investiga- Total, Agricultural Research Service..... $161, 350 20, 090 21, 900 Economic Research Service: Farm economics research......... Total, production research... Utilization research and development: Agricultural Research Service: 209, 940 173, 300 Marketing research: Agricultural Marketing Service: Marketing quality research.. Economic Research Service: Marketing economics and economic and statistical analysis. 305, 700 Farmer Cooperative Service: To strengthen farmer cooperatives__ 79, 800 5, 000 Total, marketing research Nutrition and consumer use: Agricultural Research Service: Composition and household use of peanuts and peanut oils... 390, 500 32, 000 Total, peanut research... 805, 740 DETAIL BY LOCATION Production research: Alabama, Auburn: Production, disease, and quality investigations ($15,200); and control of nematodes in peanuts ($4,000)___ Georgia: Experiment: Peanut disease investigations, particularly stem Total, Georgia Maryland: Beltsville: Evaluation of peanut germ plasm and New Jersey, Moorestown: Taxonomy studies of insects having Texas, Stephensville: Peanut variety evaluation studies__ 19, 200 9, 600 56, 900 66, 500 75, 180 100 860 500 200 1 Excludes obligations under Federal grant funds administered by the USDA's Cooperative State Experiment Station Service. For such obligations, see the table "Estimated obligations for State research on Peanuts," Federal grant and non-Federal funds, fiscal year 1963" which appears below. In Savannah we have a somewhat larger laboratory, a part of which has to do with peanuts. They also work on feed grains, fabrics, insect-resistant packaging, residues, and things of that sort. Of the total staff at Savannah 1.3 professional man-years are devoted to working on peanuts. Their work is much more basic than that at Tifton. It has to do, for example, with the susceptibility of representative peanut insects to inert atmospheric gases. In other words, the staff is working on new methods of trying to control insect infestation by use of nonchemical materials or methods. One of our problems, as you know, is this question of pesticide residues. We are working in the direction of getting away from the use of chemicals. But at the present time we are continuing to work on the chemical methods which will leave little or no harmful residues. Mr. WHITTEN. You mentioned the size of the laboratory. What kind of laboratory is that? Dr. HERRMANN. Our space is furnished by the University of Georgia at the Tifton Experiment Station. It is a very small laboratory. Mr. WHITTEN. Is it a cooperative project with them? Dr. HERRMANN. This is a cooperative project with the Georgia Experiment Station. The work at Savannah is not cooperative with the State experiment station. The facilities consist of a group of temporary-type buildings-quonset hut and frame-that were built by the National Youth Administration back in the 1930's and used by the Navy during World War II. All of them are quite old and not in very good condition. But we happen to own the land in this case, and this is the best we have in the way of a laboratory. Mr. WHITTEN. How much land do you have there? Dr. HERRMANN. Ten acres. We bought it 4 or 5 years ago for $40,000 because we were about to be moved out. The work there is much more basic in nature than at other locations. I would think there are some 17 or 18 people there in total; 1.3 man-years are devoted to peanuts. And the work, I would say, has been very satisfactory. RESEARCH ON PEANUT EQUIPMENT, WORK, AND HANDLING METHODS Mr. WHITTEN. Now we turn to the next one, which is (c): Improved equipment and work and handling methods for efficient drying, shelling, and storage operations. Where are you doing that work now? Dr. HERRMANN. This work has been going on for 3 years at Bainbridge, Ga., and at several other locations. We have an experimental drying or curing installation in Bainbridge, Ga., where they are working with the Georgia, Florida, Alabama Peanut Association. The association is furnishing space to do research on drying or curing of peanuts. This is also a somewhat inadequate temporary structure in which we have installed experimental equipment, which has been very useful to us in developing new methods and equipment for offfarm curing of peanuts. The tendency at the present time seems to be toward increased curing or drying of farmers' stock peanuts off the farm. This is quite common in a number of commodities because of the development of mechanical harvesting. |