What are peanuts and where did they come from?

Peanuts are the seeds of a legume plant.

It is thought that peanuts originated in the Amazon basin of South America and were transported to the New World by Portugese explorers in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Origins Of The Peanut Industry In Australia

Peanuts first appeared in Australia in the late 1870s with the arrival of Chinese gold diggers in North Queensland.The crops they planted were for personal consumption. The popularity of peanuts in Australia took a while to catch on and it wasn't until the 1920s that the first commercial crop was planted in the South Burnett region of Queensland.

Production remained pretty low for the first couple of years but in 1922 the entire crop was purchased by the Marrickville Margarine Company (later known as ETA Foods Ltd) establishing the commercial viability of the peanut industry in Australia.

In 1924 the Peanut Marketing Board was formed to buy and sell the crops produced by all the farmers in the region.The headquarters for this marketing board was established in Kingaroy where it remains today.Over the next 10 years, knowledge of peanut farming grew to such an extent that new regions were developed including the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland. By 1940 the production had increased by six times the original yield.

The peanut marketing board still exists today but its name has changed to the Peanut Company of Australia Ltd.

Peanut Farming In Australia Today

There are about 400 peanut growers in Australia today. 

Approximately 25,000-35,000 hectares are planted every year yielding 36,000-55,000 tonnes of peanuts, depending on seasonal conditions. Most of these peanuts are consumed domestically.