Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is contributing to increased productivity and profitability of peanut production through research on improved peanut varieties and management practices, and to food safety by better post-harvest and processing technologies that can mitigate the negative impacts of contamination of peanut and other crops from toxins produced by soil-borne fungal pathogens (known as mycotoxins).
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A rich source of protein and fiber, peanuts or groundnuts are a major part of the diet in much of the world. Working with scientists, students, farmers and private sector players across Africa, the Peanut Innovation Lab is making this major food source plentiful and safe.
Building on work that sequenced the peanut genome in 2019, the lab includes portfolio of variety development projects that are finding the genetic diversity of cultivated peanut in Africa and the U.S. and using wild relatives of peanut to add resistance to disease and climate shocks. This knowledge enables African peanut breeders to integrate desirable traits into improved varieties.
On the farm, researchers are testing solutions directly with growers, from improved varieties to better production practices and post-harvest technologies. Nutrition research is documenting how consuming peanut may improve cognition and the microbiome in a person’s gut.
In special projects and across the entire portfolio of projects, the innovation lab is working to better understand the roles women and youth play in the peanut value chain, so that these groups are empowered and adapt the technologies that come from research.
Lead Institute
University of Georgia
Focus Countries
Senegal, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda
Principal Investigators
View all of our lead scientists.
Learn More
Visit our website to meet our researchers, watch videos of our work, access the informational materials we have produced and understand the research we are doing.
Stay in touch (link to FB/Twitter)
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Who We Are
Our Researchers
Maria Balota, Associate Professor
Virginia Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for High Throughput Phenotyping
David Bertioli, Professor, GRA Distinguished Investigator
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for New Wild Alleles to Improve Peanut
Rick Brandenburg, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor
North Carolina State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Production Packages for Malawi and Satellite Image Analysis for Peanut
Mark D. Burow
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for Breeding for Drought, Leaf Spot, and Oil
Chris Butts
National Peanut Research Lab, USDA, USA
Lead Scientist for PICS Bag Evaluation
Josh Clevenger
Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, USA
Lead Scientist for Mapping GRV Resistance
C. Michael Deom, Professor
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for GRD Alternative Host
Richard P. Dick
The Ohio State Univerity, USA
Lead Scientist for Optimized Shrub System for Peanut
Daniel Fonceka
CERAAS, Senegal
Lead Scientist for Enhancing Genetic Potential in Peanut in Western Africa
Leland Glenna, Professor of rural sociology
Pennsylvania State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Time Poverty Among Ghanaian Women
David Jordan, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Crop Science and Extension Specialist
North Carolina State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Risk Index Tool Update and Production Packages for Ghana
Soraya Leal-Bertioli
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Novel Diversity to Improve Peanut
Nicholas Magnan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Farmer Incentives for Quality Ghanaian Peanuts
Mark Manary, M.D., Professor and Medical Doctor
Washington University, St. Louis, USA
Lead Scientist for Malnutrition Interventions
Venugopal Mendu
Texas Tech University, USA
Lead Scientist for Seed Coat Chemical Makers
Bradford Mills
Department of Ag and Applied Economics
Virginia Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for Youth in Peanut Production in Senegal
David Kalule Okello
NaSARRI, NARO, Uganda
Lead Scientist for Enhancing Genetic Potential in Peanut in Eastern and Southern Africa, Assessment of Breeding Programs, and Implementing a Management System in Peanut Breeding Programs
Peggy Ozias-Akins, Professor
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Genotyping U.S. Germplasm from Africa, and Peanut Gene Evaluation
Carrie Ann Stephens, Professor
University of Tennessee, USA
Lead Scientist for Photovoice in Uganda
Stuart Sweeney, Professor
University of California, USA
Lead Scientist for Gender in Peanut Production in Senegal
Jia-Sheng Wang, Professor and Department Head
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Gut Microbiome Regulation
Overseas Partners
Ghana
CSIR-Crop Research Institute (CRI)
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Project Peanut Butter
CSIR-Savanna Agriculture Research Institute (SARI)
University for Development Studies (UDS)
University of Ghana
India
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Kenya
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Malawi
DARS-Chitedze Agriculture Research Service
Horizon Farms, Ltd.
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)
Mali
Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER)
Mozambique
Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM)
Niger
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Centre Regional de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRA)
Senegal
Centre de Recherche Pour le Developpement Economique et Social Sanar (CRDESS)
Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Agriculture de Thies (ENSA)]
Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA)
University of Thies
Uganda
Makerere University
National Agriculture Research Organization /National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute (NARO/NaSARRI)
Zambia
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI)
Work With Us
Program Director: Dave Hoisington
Email: davehois@uga.edu
Assistant Director: James Rhoads
Email: jrhoads@uga.edu