The 2025 Panhandle Row Crop Short Course was held Thursday, March 6, in Marianna, Florida. The event had a great turnout with 143 people. This annual event is a regional peanut and cotton production meeting located in the Central Panhandle, supporting growers from Calhoun, Gadsden, Holmes, Jackson and Washington counties. The planning committee is comprised of local Extension agents Ethan Carter, Mark Mauldin, Kalyn Waters, Daniel Leonard, and Robbie Jones. Extension Specialists from Florida and Auburn spoke to peanut and cotton farmers regarding management strategies to help them during the 2025 growing season, as well as providing EPA pesticide updates. Participating industry agronomists and chemical reps also provided updates on their company specific varieties and products. Restricted use applicators in attendance were able to earn Florida and Georgia continuing education units for license renewal, as did Certified Crop Advisors.
A brief recap below provides a summary of what was discussed by each speaker, as well as direct links to download full PDF (printable) versions of their presentations from the event.
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Peanut Varieties & Performance
Dr. Barry Tillman, UF/IFAS Peanut Breeder, provided variety data pertaining to seed availability, size, and disease tolerances. His variety specific information can help producers make informed management decisions based on factors such as planting date, disease susceptibility, as well as seed and vine size.
Presentation link: Peanut Varieties & Performance – Barry Tillman
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Cotton Varieties & Performance
Dr. Sudeep Sidhu, UF Agronomist, presented cotton performance data from 2024 official variety trials (OVTs) that were done at research stations in Quincy and Jay Florida. On-farm variety performance data from Jackson County was also discussed. His talk included average trial yields for irrigated and dryland locations, which varieties performed average as well as their fiber strength and micronaire data.
Presentation link: Cotton Varieties & Performance – Sudeep Sidhu
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Cotton Variety Updates from Industry
Cotton agronomists from BASF (Mark Freeman), Bayer (Vint Hicks), and Corteva (Gib Ellis) provided variety information pertaining to Stoneville, Delta Pine, and PhytoGen lines. This included maturity groups, availability, insect/herbicide traits, and which soil type or field situations they recommended positioning certain varieties.
Presentation link: Stoneville Cotton – Mark Freeman
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Presentation link: Delta Pine Cotton – Vint Hicks
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Presentation link: PhytoGen Cotton – Gib Ellis
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Deer Herbivory Work in Row Crops – Carolina Baruzzi
Dr. Carolina Baruzzi, UF Wildlife specialist, presented data on recent peanut and cotton herbivory work performed on-farm with growers. Exclusion cages were installed in fields and left season long to collect data pertaining to plant height, stem density, and yield. Growers managed fields season long with their standard management programs. Camera traps were also placed on cages to monitor deer density, frequency, and duration the fields. Peanut sites were variable in pressure although yield differences were found, cotton sights found no differences in yield but it was stated that may be related to late installation timing (2-4 weeks after emergence) for that crop. The work is being repeated in 2025 for both crops, with the goal of installing cotton cages prior to emergence.
Presentation link: Herbivory Work in Row Crops – Carolina Baruzzi
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Market Update
Dr. Adam Rabinowitz, Auburn Economist, provided information pertaining to overall market trends, highlighting changes in farm income, debt, expenses, and interest rates in recent years. He discussed current commodity prices, and the uncertainty surrounding the market pertaining to trade and future import/exports.
Presentation link: Market Update – Adam Rabinowitz
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Peanut and Cotton Weed Control
Dr. Steve Li, Auburn Weed Scientist, discussed weed control options and scenarios for the 2025 growing season. For peanut weed control, nothing new is coming down the pipeline in the foreseeable future. Preemergence programs are a staple for weed control, resistance management is key to protect Group 15 chemistries (Dual, etc.). Cotton weed control will look different for many producers, dicamba not labeled for the 2025 season.
Presentation Link: Peanut Weed Management – Steve Li
Presentation Link: Cotton Weed Management – Steve Li
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Bulletins Live Two & EPA Updates
Dr. Brett Bultemeier, UF Pesticide Information Office, discussed the Endangered Species Act and updates from EPA pertaining to pesticide labeling and reporting. Although these changes require slightly more documentation and record keeping for growers, they are much more straightforward than originally anticipated. Most of the documentation pertaining to mitigation points are for things growers already do, now it is largely documenting those existing management practices. He walked the audience through use of the EPA mitigation calculator to highlight ease of use for compliance purposes.
Presentation link: Bulletins Live Two & EPA Updates – Brett Bultemeier
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Industry Product Updates and Program Use
Participating chemical reps were provided 3-minutes to discuss their products. They gave updates on what is new to the market, use rates, when they would recommend positioning them in a spray program, and more.
Presentation link: BASF – William Reed
Presentation link: Biotrop – Derek Barber
Presentation link: DeltAg – Richard Whitman
Presentation link: Nichino – Wayne Brown
Presentation link: UPL – Zane Griffin
Presentation link: West of Eden Foundational Ag Services – Alton Rodgers III
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Program Sponsors
These 26 sponsor organizations took part in the program’s Trade Show and without their support the event would not be possible. Our planning committee is extremely grateful for their continued support and the services that they provide the region’s growers.
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Save the dates:
Thursday, August 14, 2025 for the UF/IFAS Peanut Field Day
Thursday, March 5, 2026 for the 2026 Panhandle Row Crop Short Course
- 2025 Panhandle Row Crop Short Course Highlights & Presentation Links - March 7, 2025
- Chlorpyrifos Insecticide Status - February 21, 2025
- Upcoming Soybean Webinars for Farmers – February 28 & March 14 - February 14, 2025