It's a bad year for Texas Peanut Farmers. Extremely dry weather in the spring followed by a sudden freeze in the fall have meant a loss of over 33,000 tons of peanuts in Texas. Tobi Cooper of Houston Pecan Company, a local wholesaler and retailer of nuts, says the lack of supply is changing their prices. "We have Spanish peanuts, we have peanuts without the skin and we have chopped peanuts like the ones you put on ice cream. All of those prices have gone up." Cooper says to look out for rising prices from companies they sell to, like bakeries, caterers, restaurants, hotels and even non profit groups that make peanut brittle for holiday fund-raising. Also driving up prices, according to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, is the increased demand for peanut butter and peanut candy ingested by parents and children who have been staying home.
Adverse weather producing fewer peanuts per acre may also cause some quality grades of peanuts to decline. Rough enough is thousands of tons have been lost but add to it higher demand from individual industries that use peanuts for candy and sweets and huge demands from China. Cooper says their suppliers are aware. "When the new crop comes in, we might go, 'We'd like a hundred cases.' And they would reply, 'We don't have a hundred cases. Take fifty cases!'" Cooper says peanut prices have gone up and you may see higher prices in products that have peanuts or peanut oil in them.
She also gives this hint: " To keep your peanuts and nuts fresh - keep them in the freezer."
photo: Getty