A Tough Nut to Crack: Finding Local Texas Peanuts

I thought finding local peanut farmers in Texas to invite to the Texas Local Food Directory would be easy.

After all, peanuts feel deeply Southern, so surely there would be countless examples of roadside stands, fresh peanuts being sold at farmer’s markets, and farms proudly advertising their harvests across the state? However, it turns out that this is not the case. Instead, I kept running into major shellers and processors. I could find plenty of companies that bought, cleaned, shelled, or manufactured peanuts, but very few actual farms that were selling directly to consumers.

So, I started asking around in online peanut groups (they’re a real thing!), and one response I received completely changed how I thought about the Texas peanut industry. “Peanuts are a tricky little commodity,” they told me. Turns out that like many crops, peanuts come out of the ground covered in dirt and debris, but there is also the problem with peanuts that many people are highly allergic to them. Before they can safely enter the food system, peanuts need to be cleaned, sorted, shelled, dried, and processed under very strict food safety protocols. Peanuts fresh out of the ground also carry risks of Salmonella and other pathogens, so growers generally only sell to manufacturers who have approved food safety systems and kill steps already in place.

The difficulty I was having in locating fresh peanuts was starting to make sense. Turns out that the reason it’s so hard to find local peanuts in Texas isn’t because Texas doesn’t grow them, it’s because peanuts move through such a tightly controlled system long before they ever reach customers. Unlike peaches, tomatoes, or melons that might go directly from a farm to a roadside stand, peanuts are deeply tied to a more industrial processing infrastructure. Most peanut farmers are not directly marketing their crops to consumers at all, and given the unique food safety and handling requirements involved, a farm-stand model is likely not the best fit for peanuts in the way it is for many other crops.

However, it turns out that Texas actually grows a lot of peanuts, something I hadn’t expected to discover. In fact, Texas is the only state in the country that grows all four major peanut varieties: Runner, Virginia, Spanish, and Valencia. Historically, peanuts were a major part of agricultural life across the state. The city of Floresville was once known as the “Peanut Capital of Texas,” and they continue to hold their Floresville Peanut Festival each year. De Leon and Comanche County also became nationally recognized peanut-growing regions in the early 20^th century. Today, much of the industry has shifted west toward Gaines County, Terry County, and the South Plains, where large-scale peanut farming still thrives.

Many peanut farms are still operating as multi-generation family farms, and some farmers grow peanuts alongside cotton, wheat, hay, or cattle as part of more diversified farm system. I also learned that Texas is a national leader in organic peanut production. But despite how important peanuts remain to Texas agriculture, many growers have almost no public-facing presence online. Some don’t have websites or any kind of social media presence whatsoever. Others barely appear outside of farm bureau articles, peanut board directories, or local agricultural records where the farmer is mentioned by name, but not the farm. In many ways, peanuts operate quietly in the background of the Texas food system.

Another theme kept surfacing when discussing the future of the peanut industry was water. Modern peanut production in Texas relies heavily on irrigation, especially in West Texas and the South Plains. Much of that water comes from the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest underground freshwater sources in the country. But water levels in the aquifer continue to decline, and pumping costs are becoming increasingly more expensive as the wells deepen. Farmers must frequently weigh difficult decisions about irrigation, crop rotations, and ultimately what sustainability looks like for them long term.

This creates an interesting tension. Texas remains one of the best places in the country to grow peanuts. The climate works, the infrastructure exists, and generations of farming knowledge are deeply rooted here. Yet the future of the peanut industry feels uncertain, especially because increasing pressure on water resources (particularly with growing demand from things like expanding cities and data centers) further diverts water from farms and crops, which in turn further complicates long-term sustainability.

Researching peanuts also reminded me how disconnected many of us are from the realities of modern agriculture. I started out imagining fresh local peanuts sold at farm stands and farmers markets alongside other produce like fruits and vegetables, but instead I uncovered information about food safety systems, groundwater depletion, commodity markets, and the quiet persistence of Texas farm families who are adapting year after year.

So, it is true that Texas still grows incredible peanuts. They just rarely travel directly from the field to the consumer in the way many other local foods do. This is exactly why projects like the Texas Local Food Directory matter. Not every local food system can be simple, visible, or direct-to-consumer, and local food is often far more interconnected and complex than what appears on a farmer’s market table for consumers to select themselves and buy. And yet, there is still something hopeful in knowing these farming traditions continue. Across West Texas and the South Plains, Texas peanut farmers are still planting, adapting, and carrying forward generations of agricultural knowledge that remains deeply rooted in the story of Texas’ peanut farms.

So where can consumers actually buy Texas peanuts? We’ve established that this is not from the farm itself. Instead, Texas peanuts reach consumers through local roasters, specialty retailers, and grocery stores after moving through the cleaning, shelling, and food safety systems that make them suitable for sale. Consumers can find Texas-grown peanuts through companies such as Texas Roasting Company in Seminole, through products carrying H-E-B’s Texas Roots branding, and through specialty peanut processors and roasters across the state. The local Texas peanut industry is still there, just one or two steps removed from the farm gate.