Howard Valentine sees an exciting future for peanuts
When Howard Valentine was a child and would build forts and play among the bags of peanuts at the warehouses managed by his father, he never dreamed peanuts would one day be his life’s work.“The Vietnam War was winding down at about that time, and it was hard to find a job," he said.
May 15, 2015
When Howard Valentine was a child and would build forts and play among the bags of peanuts at the warehouses managed by his father, he never dreamed peanuts would one day be his life’s work.
“I enjoyed being around my peanuts and being around my father. Everyone who worked in the peanut processing plants was like our extended family. It has been a great career, and in some small way, I feel as though I’ve made an impact on the U.S. peanut industry,” says Valentine, who will step down this year after serving as executive director of The Peanut Foundation for 21 years. The Peanut Foundation is the research arm of the American Peanut Council.
But as much as he loved being around peanuts, it wasn’t his first career choice, says Valentine, who was born and raised in the small farming town of Ozark, Ala., just north of Dothan.
“When I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in engineering, the one thing I wasn’t going to do was move back to Ozark,” he says. “I was 21 years old and had wanderlust.”
He finished college during the peak of the Vietnam War, in 1968, and went to work for Texas Instruments in Dallas, in its government products division.
“We developed guidance systems for laser-guided bombs and developed most of the infrared technology used in aircraft spotting troop movements,” said Valentine. At about the same time, he married a native Texan, so the job was a good fit.
After about three and a half years, it was time to move back to the South, he says.
“The Vietnam War was winding down at about that time, and it was hard to find a job. A lot of young guys were leaving the service and looking for work, so it was a pretty tough job market.
I discussed my frustration with my father, and he suggested I could help him. He was head engineer for a company that was known then as Columbia Peanut Company, with several shelling plants. He said I could work with him and still interview for other things if I wanted.
That was in 1970, and I’ve been a part of the peanut industry ever since. I had found a home, in spite of my attitude coming out of college.”
Valentine lived in Ozark for 13 years, working primarily in equipment and design, helping build several new facilities for the Columbia Peanut Company. The company was bought by Archer Daniels Midland, resulting in another move, this time to Decatur, Ill.
“We enjoyed it because it was a farming-related community with a lot of food-processing plants. During that period, I became head of manufacturing for ADM’s peanut division, which included plants throughout Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia and North Carolina. I spent a lot of time traveling.
“I eventually transitioned from manufacturing to a sales, marketing and procurement group. That’s when I became involved with the farmer-stock end of the peanut business, and I did that for almost five years.”
It was obvious during this time, says Valentine, that the company needed more volume.
“We represented about 30 to 35 percent of the industry at that time. I discussed with Gold Kist forming some farmer co-ops, and we thought that would be a good foundation for us. They didn’t really want to sell, but they wanted to form a partnership, so that partnership became Golden Peanut Company.”
Golden’s headquarters were established just outside Atlanta, where Valentine thought he would be retiring.
“I thought I wanted to retire. Our kids were out of college and had moved away, and we had a place in north Georgia. I had a career, had been in the peanut business for almost 30 years, and I was 55 years old, so I thought I’d enjoy life and do what I wanted to do. That lasted about six weeks.”
That’s when the American Peanut Council approached him about heading up The Peanut Foundation, in 1997, which is the independent research arm of the American Peanut Council.
Making an impact
Valentine feels as if he’s a greater influence on the peanut industry in the past 23 years than in the first 30.