Photo Gallery: Peanut future strong in Mississippi Delta — photo gallery

Dec. 4, 2012

Brian Harris, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss., stands in front of a mountain of peanuts. The storage warehouse has a 26,000-ton capacity.
Brian Harris, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
Wooden barriers with breathable slits section off the warehouse peanuts.
Peanuts creeping through the wooden barricades.
Peanuts spilling out of the storage warehouse.
Post-cleaning peanut trash piles — similar to cotton gin trash.
Huey Smith, Smith Brothers Trucking, Clarksdale, Miss., prepares to release a load of peanuts.
Huey Smith, Smith Brothers Trucking, Clarksdale, Miss., cranks the release on a trailer of peanuts.
Crew chief Tracy Walton, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss., monitors an arriving trailer of peanuts.
Crew chief Tracy Walton, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss., stands in the foreground as peanuts pour from an incoming trailer.
The volume of dust generated as peanut trailers are emptied is remarkable and varies with each load.
From left: Donald Wiley, Richard Wheeler, Jeremy White and Tracy Walton; Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
Brian Harris, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss., watches as a peanut trailer is emptied. The initial drop can be hazardous — the trailers are elevated at increasing angles until all the peanuts exit.
Jeremy White, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss., working in the heavy peanut dust.
Richard Wheeler, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
A load of peanuts, shaken free of heavy dust.
Jeremy White, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
Cleaned peanuts drop into trucks for transport to warehouse storage.
Jeremy White, left, operates peanut cleaning machinery as Brian Harris looks on.
Jeremy White, left, and Brian Harris.
William Barron, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
Steven Portillo, Clint Williams Co., Clarksdale, Miss.
Drying fans at the Clint Williams facility, with storage warehouse in background.
View from the top: Fan-blown air expands the red tarp above a peanut drying trailer.
The Clint Williams Clarksdale, Miss., site houses 100 peanut drying trailers.

As peanut acreage continues to spread across the Delta, the Clint Williams Co.’s Clarksdale, Miss., facility processed 11,000 acres of peanuts in its first year of operation. Glen Moore, buying point manager, oversees a 26,000-ton storage warehouse at the Clarksdale site, in addition to 100 drying trailers. After drying, Moore ships the peanuts to Madill, Okla., where they are further processed for candy and peanut butter.