William (Bill) Branch, professor of crop and soil sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and a faculty member in the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics, is an award-winning research scientist who directs the peanut breeding program at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus. Branch’s breeding efforts focus on developing varieties for the peanut industry that have beneficial qualities such as the following:

• Increased yield and grade leading to higher dollar value;
• Resistance to disease, insects, nematodes, viruses, aflatoxin and drought;
• Better shelling characteristics and shelf-life; and
• Enhanced flavor and nutrition.

Improved peanut varieties are vitally important to the peanut industry in Georgia and across the region. Over the last 25 years, Branch has developed over 20 new peanut varieties that have helped Georgia to be the #1 peanut producing state in the U.S. Today, approximately half of all the peanuts produced in the U.S. are grown in Georgia, and peanut varieties developed under Branch’s leadership account for over 90 percent of the market share of the Georgia peanut production.