What do peanuts, almonds and soybeans have in common?
“They start as a mess and they need some separating.”
Those are the words of Lewis M. Carter III, the third-generation owner of LMC Manufacturing, a Georgia-based facility responsible for creating the machines that do a lot of separating. A whole lot of separating.
Peanuts are big business in Georgia, perhaps second only to the unending task of reminding Alabama football fans exactly how the previous two falls have unfolded. Producing more than 2 billion pounds of peanuts annually, Georgia churns out about half of the nation’s peanuts every year.
Peanuts have shells. Getting those nuts out of those shells is exactly the task that LMC focuses on.
“We’re in the separation business,” Carter said. “And we’re competitive. I don’t like to lose. We want to solve problems and we want to be the very best at what we do.”
The end result? A business that has stood for 80 years and has an enormous footprint on not just southern agriculture but agriculture around the world.
You’ll find LMC equipment in soybean facilities in Michigan and across the Midwest. Head to South America and you’ll find LMC there as well. In fact, the company is currently crafting a peanut sheller destined for Argentina that will process up to 30 tons an hour.
“It was awesome to see that LMC ships all over the world,” said Chris Heck of Monroe County. “But what was really amazing was to learn that they work with ADM which has several locations in Michigan. They work with farmers to build cleaning and sorting machines that I believe would be a great value-added option for food-grade soybeans and dry beans here in Michigan.”
The plant employs an array of laborers ranging from CNC operators to welders (lots and lots of welders) to engineers to quality control specialists.
While LMC manufactures a multitude of machines, it’s perhaps best known for its shellers and sorters. Initially used for peanuts, LMC has taken its designs and adapted them to handle almonds and soybeans.
“It’s always cool to see how farmers take their ideas to engineers and then build equipment that makes farming safer and more efficient,” said Lyle Young of Livingston County.
The stop at LMC kicked off the third day of the 2023 ProFILE class’ whirlwind tour in the heart of SEC country and the first in Georgia. Hosted by the Georgia Farm Bureau, the next stop of the day was at Green Circles Farm’s sweet corn operation where it became plenty clear that things are, well, different down here.
“We’ll start planting sweet corn in a couple of weeks – around Feb. 15 or so,” said Greg Calhoun, owner of Green Circles and a Georgia Farm Bureau member. “We really want to hit that Memorial Day market, so to do that, you need to have the product on its way to the stores around three or four days before Memorial Day.”
Yep, that’s right. They’ll be harvesting corn in May. And if you need a little more calendar mind-bending, Green Circles then has the option to toss in an additional sweet corn crop or two before wrapping up final harvest in December.
“The spring and summer market is lower volume, but we have done it the past couple of years,” Calhoun said. “We do a lot of packaging and wrapping for retail delivery and we listen to what the consumer wants. What they want is what we do.”
That means sometimes the sweet corn is plastic-wrapped in the husk, others it’s fully husked and the ear fully exposed. And, sometimes, it’s “window-wrapped” with just a single ear of corn partially shucked.
Harvest is handled utilizing H-2A workers and most in-field implements are equipped with lights.
Why?
“We’ll harvest a lot at night because of the heat,” Calhoun said. “It just gets to be too much during the day, so you’ll see us out there at one or two in the morning.”
Like in Michigan, John Bowsky said each process revolves around the end product.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you farm, if the consumer isn't pleased it affects the entire process from start to finish," said Bowsky of Sanilac County.