Call them goobers, pindas, jack nuts, earthnuts, goober peas, pinders, manila nuts, monkey nuts, or just plain peanuts. No matter what you call them, they are delicious roasted, boiled, made into peanut butter, in a candy bar or as part of some other treat.

And in Baldwin County, they are big business. According to an e-mail from Richard L. Petcher, a regional extension agent specializing in agronomy for southwest Alabama, “The peanut’s average price is around 22 cents per pound. This year’s peanut crop was worth nearly $16 million.”

We’re not talking peanuts here. Well yes, we are. Especially when there were about 19,000 acres of the legume (the plant is related to the bean) planted in the area this year.

Peanuts are more than something good to eat. The “goober” is used to make paint, leather dressings, textiles, insecticides and soap, among other things. The peanut can also be explosive — it is used to make nitroglycerin.

Peanuts are Joe Parker’s life. The managing partner of the Summerdale Peanut Company says the privately owned facility is “like a grain elevator.”

“We’re the first point where farmers can sell their crop,” said Parker.

The facility buys, sizes, and sorts peanuts before they go on to other processors.

“The nuts here go to food manufacturers, mainly,” said Parker. The company buys peanuts from about 45 farmers in the area.

While peanuts have been enjoyed by the people of South America for more than 7,000 years, that hasn’t been the case for most of us. The legume was exported to Africa and China by the Portuguese, and it spread around the world from there.

One of the reasons the peanut spread so far, so fast is that they are nutritious. About 3.5 ounces of peanuts has 86 per cent of the amount of niacin nutritionists say adults should have, and about half the recommended amount of magnesium, along with high percentages of other good-for-yous. Parker says that the peanut’s “high fat” reputation is being tamed by food companies who are trying to keep the nutrition but reduce the fats in the pinders.

“They are finding that the peanut is a good source of resveratrol,” said Parker, speaking of a substance under investigation by scientists for its cancer prevention and anti-aging properties.

And the lowly groundnut is doing its part in helping the ravages of world hunger.

“Plumpy'nut is made from peanuts,” said Parker, speaking of a nutritious paste made from peanuts that is used in famine relief.

“It does not need refrigeration and lasts for years,” added Parker.

While peanuts are a relative newcomer to Baldwin county, Petcher says that the plant is well-suited to the area, and has a place in local agriculture.

“First of all Baldwin County has fertile sandy loam soil, essential for growing peanuts. Baldwin County also has a fairly consistent rainfall pattern throughout the summer, excluding a few droughts and hurricanes,” said Petcher. He added that Baldwin county has a strong tradition of agriculture, and local farmers have an intense interest in learning about the best ways to grow their crops.

Rain around harvest time can be devastating to the peanut crop.

“In 2002, the rain set in,” said Parker. “We got 60 maybe 70 per cent of what we’d normally get in. It was disastrous to the farmers and to us.”

Part of the problem is that harvesting peanuts is a two-step, time-consuming process.

The first step is driving a large piece of equipment, called an “inverter” over the field. Peanuts grow under the ground, so they have to be brought to the surface.

“The inverter lifts the peanut so the peanuts are sunny side up,” explained Parker.

After a few days of drying in “windrows,” the legumes are ready for harvest.

“The harvester is like a grain combine, It separates peanuts from the plant,” Parker said.

The peanuts are loaded into large containers, which are trucked to their destination.

“It takes real specialized equipment,” said Parker.

Hurricanes can also play havoc with farmers, hteir goober peas, and equipment.

“Katrina was miserable,” recalled Parker. “Our elevator was demolished.”

And Ivan visited his own brand of destruction on the Summerdale Peanut Company.

“Ivan ripped the roof off our office,” said Parker. “Some equipment was hurt, but in all, we were very fortunate.”

At a place like Summerdale Peanut Company, the peanuts are graded, dried and stored before going on to processors and manufacturers, and are checked for aflatoxin, a poison created by a naturally occurring mold.

“The fungus is in the soil,” explained Parker. “During a drought, you get the lesser cornstalk borer which drills a hole in a peanut looking for moisture.”

The hole, Parker explained, allows the mold to get in.

Fortunately, no loads to date have been found with aflatoxin this year, and Parker estimates that “less than one-half of one percent” of all loads at SPC have shown any signs of contamination. Should a test show positive, the load is shunted to a special area away from the food-grade nuts and the farmer gets much less for the groundnuts.

But that should not be a big problem this year.

“This has been a textbook year for growing peanuts,” said Parker.\