Plant · P-248

Peanut

Arachis hypogaea

Peanut delivers three yields off one bed: a protein-and-oil seed crop, nitrogen it fixes for whatever follows it in rotation, and a livestock hay from the same planting that in trials matched alfalfa for lactating dairy cows. The whole plant is edible in more than the obvious way - raw or roasted seed, pressed cooking oil, and even the young pods and leaves as a vegetable most growers never touch. Its one real requirement is loose ground: the flower pegs have to push into the soil and the pod has to swell underground, so heavy clay that sets hard costs pods, while a raised bed of sand and compost lets it do what it does everywhere else. The one hazard to manage on both yields is mould - damaged seed and haulm cut after heavy rain can carry a toxin dangerous enough to kill livestock, so the hay has to be cut and dried fast or not fed at all.