Peanuts and aflatoxin: The potential and challenges for the world’s most widely grown legume

Session : Peanut is the most widely grown legume in the world and has numerous nutritional, environmental and economic benefits. However, there are several challenges to increase productivity and control the potential of contamination from aflatoxin, a highly carcinogenic byproduct of a common soil fungus. Jamie will review the problem and then discuss practical research findings and a few case studies related to controlling the problem.

Presenter : Jamie Rhoads is the Assistant Director of the Feed the Future Peanut Innovation Lab at the University of Georgia. The lab coordinates research collaboration between the US and developing country research partners, primarily in Africa, with a focus on variety development, value added gains, nutrition, and gender/youth. Jamie worked as a value chain consultant and agriculture development professional, primarily in Haiti with Meds & Food for Kids, a non-profit producer of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). His research and professional experience has been on variety and input evaluation, agricultural mechanization and processing, food safety, and socioeconomic evaluations.

https://ftfpeanutlab.caes.uga.edu/