Peanut farmers may not plant their crop

Georgia's peanut farmers have until Thursday to decide if they'll even bother planting. This is the deadline to qualify for prevented planting insurance. This insurance provides coverage to farmers when drought conditions keep them from getting their crops in the ground.

In many areas the fields are so dry, farmers cannot even loosen the soil. Some are returning their seeds to suppliers.

Rodney Dawson is with the Georgia Peanut Commission. He says the peanuts that have been planted are not what they should be.

"I've been in farming for 37 years and at this stage of the crop there should be peanuts some 5-6 inches wide. Everything I see is just real small just because of lack of moisture."

Georgia produces half of all peanuts grown in the United States. The industry employs 50-thousand people and contributes 2-billion dollars a year to the state's economy.