Recognizing the National Peanut Festival held annually in Dothan, Alabama, and the importance of the peanut industry in the State of Alabama and the United States.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 681 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 681

   Recognizing the National Peanut Festival held annually in Dothan, 
  Alabama, and the importance of the peanut industry in the State of 
                     Alabama and the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 2019

Mrs. Roby submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Recognizing the National Peanut Festival held annually in Dothan, 
  Alabama, and the importance of the peanut industry in the State of 
                     Alabama and the United States.

Whereas Dr. George Washington Carver, an African-American scientist, inventor, 
        educator, and former slave--

    (1) suggested the planting of peanuts and soybeans to restore nitrogen 
to soil left barren from cotton production;

    (2) invented more than 300 products made from peanuts; and

    (3) became the first guest speaker in the history of the National 
Peanut Festival;

Whereas peanut cultivation originated from the Incas of Peru as early as 1500 
        B.C., and spread from South America to Spain, Asia, and Africa;
Whereas, in the 1700s, Africans were the first to introduce peanuts to North 
        Americans;
Whereas, in the early 1800s, the steady growth of peanut production altered its 
        reputation as food primarily for livestock and the poor to a high-
        protein and well-liked food source for Civil War soldiers;
Whereas, in the early 1900s, demand for peanuts grew due to advances in 
        harvesting and production methods making peanuts and peanut products 
        more easily available;
Whereas Dr. Carver recommended peanuts as a crop to rival Southern cotton's top 
        commercial position, following its near destruction due to the boll 
        weevil;
Whereas thanks to Dr. Carver's instrumental work in promoting the peanut in the 
        Wiregrass area of Alabama, the National Peanut Festival invited him to 
        serve as their first guest speaker;
Whereas, in 1938, the first National Peanut Festival was held in Dothan, 
        Alabama;
Whereas the first National Peanut Festival established--

    (1) the Miss Peanut Award, first won by Elizabeth Johnson from 
Headland, Alabama; and

    (2) the Volunteer of the Year Award, named in honor of the first 
festival president, Harry P. Hall, and awarded annually since its advent;

Whereas, during its 81 years, the National Peanut Festival became an established 
        nonprofit organization through a resolution passed by the Chamber of 
        Commerce in 1952;
Whereas, in 1996, the George Washington Carver Statue was dedicated to honor the 
        famed peanut pioneer and first guest speaker at the National Peanut 
        Festival;
Whereas the National Peanut Festival moved to its current home at the 
        fairgrounds on United States Highway 231 South in Dothan, Alabama, in 
        2010;
Whereas peanuts remain a significant and valuable cash crop grown in the United 
        States, which are--

    (1) valued at over $1,000,000,000;

    (2) consumed by American children and adults--roughly six pounds of 
peanut products per person each year--as both snack nuts and candy; and

    (3) used to create peanut oil, a high-quality cooking oil that 
Americans consume at 133,000,000 metric tons annually;

Whereas approximately half of all peanuts grown in the United States originate 
        within a 100-mile radius of Dothan, Alabama; and
Whereas, in 2018, Alabama peanut farmers, of which there are close to 900--

    (1) produced runner peanuts, the variety that makes up 80 percent of 
all United States peanut production;

    (2) harvested 189,000 acres of peanuts; and

    (3) produced 400,000,000 pounds of peanuts valued at $118,000,000: Now 
therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the National Peanut Festival held in Dothan, Alabama, is of remarkable 
importance to the State of Alabama and the peanut industry due to its--
            (1) attendance of 200,000 fairgoers over the course of the 
        ten-day event;
            (2) economic impact to the town of Dothan, Alabama; and
            (3) celebration of one of America's most important, useful, 
        and well-loved cash crops.
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