Peanuts are an important cash crop in Virginia, generally ranking fourth behind tobacco, corn and soybeans. However, production is limited to southeast Virginia where peanut is the number one cash crop. The gross farm value of the peanut crop reached a record high $91,239,000 in 1981.

Peanut yields increased about 15 percent every five years until 1976. Since 1976, yields have remained steady, except for 1980 when severe drought reduced yields by two-thirds. Since 1976, the major limiting factor for yield has been diseases, the most important of which is Sclerotinia blight caused by Sclerotinia minor Jagger. This disease accounted for an estimated loss of 10.6 million dollars in farm income in 1981. Sclerotinia blight is found in about 50 percent of the peanut fields in Virginia and is also a problem in other U.S. peanut-producing states (North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas), as well as other parts of the world.

Virginia 81 Bunch (VA 81 B) is an early-maturing virginia-type peanut variety released in 1982 jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service and the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station because of its resistance to Sclerotinia minor, earliness, and favorable agronomic traits. While not immune to this soilborne pathogen, VA 81 B should provide increased yields over currently grown varieties when planted in infested fields.