By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

A group of leading food manufacturers from Mexico and Colombia are in Texas this week for a taste, literally, of the Texas peanut industry and to talk about Texas peanuts.

“We love showing them our crop and the high quality of peanuts we grow in Texas,” Shelly Nutt, executive director of Texas Peanut Producers, said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.

After the manufacturers arrived Monday, they were treated to a welcome reception and meal hosted by the American Peanut Shellers Association.

Then Tuesday morning, the group headed from San Antonio to Dilley, near Pearsall, to watch peanut harvest at Gary Boyd’s farm.

“Then we went over to Pleasanton and had lunch and a really cool peanut immersion update from the Peanut Institute talking about new peanut research on mental health and gut health,” Nutt said. “They discussed how peanuts are so beneficial for delaying Alzheimer’s and also keeping your gut bacteria in check.”

After a final dinner and friendly farewell speeches, the group from Mexico headed home Wednesday, which is when the group from Colombia arrived for a similar experience.

This isn’t the first time Texas Peanut Producers have hosted manufacturers from Mexico. In fact, it’s now a tradition, with the groups taking turns visiting one another.

“When I started with the board, I would look at export reports that USDA publishes, and Mexico wasn’t even on the list. The peanuts that we exported to Mexico was lumped into this ‘other’ category because they were so small, they didn’t even register on the report,” Nutt said. “Fifteen years later, they’re our second largest trade partner.”

Nutt said it’s the relationship Texas Peanut Producers and farmers have built with the manufacturers that has really helped build the market and add extra value to the Texas peanut crop.

“Going and seeing them, bringing them here, introducing them to farmers, sharing Christmas cards and sending pictures of our grandchildren to each other, we’ve really developed some great friendships with them. I believe it’s those relationships that has grown that market from nothing, 15 years ago, to what it is today,” she said. “And when we look at the reports, it says one out of every four acres of peanuts is exported. Farmers understand that value.”

That’s one reason why Nutt and Texas Peanut Producers hope to grow the Colombian demand for U.S. peanuts the same way they built demand in Mexico.

“They’re buying so few peanuts from the United States that we really want to grow that,” Nutt said. “We really want to own that Colombian market, and the best way to do it is just let them experience high quality USA-grown peanuts and high-quality Texas peanuts.”