 A New Spanish Peanut Variety for Consumers, Growers 
 
 By Sharon Durham 
 
 February 24, 2015 
 
 A new Spanish peanut variety that packs high levels of healthful oleic acid has been released by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and university cooperators. Sustainable peanut production in the southwestern United States demands that cultivars grown there possess certain characteristics, including a high oleic/linoleic acid ratio, which increases peanut product shelf life, and resistance to multiple diseases, according to Chamberlin. The OLé peanuts are what’s known as a high-oleic peanut, meaning that they have a boosted amount of oleic acid, a fatty acid that’s also present in olive oil, compared with other types of fatty acids. But the OLé variety is of interest to us for two reasons: First, the OLé peanut is also engineered to be resistant to diseases like pod rot and sclerotinia blight, which can either devastate peanut fields or force farmers to use copious amounts of possibly dangerous fungicides. “But growing a disease resistance variety, like the OLé, could save farmers up to $150/acre because they wouldn't have to use any chemicals” says Chamberlin, “and that's big savings.” 
 
 In fact, during field tests OLé plants were three times as resistant to Sclerotinia blight and about seven times as resistant to pod rot when compared to OLin, an older variety of Spanish peanut. Although OLé peanuts have increased disease resistance, Chamberlin labels its yield per hectare as “acceptable.” She and her research team are now working on varieties that have higher yields, by at least a thousand pounds per acre.
– If you've been puzzling over ways to get more oleic acid into your body, the USDA has just come through. In a joint venture with Oklahoma State University, the agency has released a brand-new peanut that's said to boast a richer flavor, health benefits, and resistance to crop disease, Modern Farmer reports. The new legume, a type of Spanish peanut, is called OLé and is the result of a sophisticated "pedigree methodology" that tapped into an "advanced breeding line" to create a peanut that would be more resistant to Sclerotinia blight and pod rot. The diseases can devastate peanut crops unless farmers resort to using fungicides, so from a financial standpoint, OLé could be a game changer; diseases like that in a peanut field's soil can wipe out up to half the crop, per a USDA press release. "Growing a [disease-resistant] variety like the OLé could save farmers up to $150 [per] acre because they wouldn't have to use any chemicals, and that's big savings," a USDA research biologist tells the Crop Science Society of America. The new peanut is also good news from the consumer perspective: It's loaded with oleic acid—the same fatty acid found in olive oil—which doesn't turn rancid as quickly as the linoleic acid also found in peanuts, meaning a longer shelf life for peanut-based products. And oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid (one of the so-called "good" fats"), linked to lower blood pressure, better heart health, and decreased symptoms in diabetes patients, per the CSSA. The peanut's high oil content also lends it a nuttier flavor; Modern Farmer notes Spanish-style nuts are generally used to make "high-quality" peanut butter. (In an extremely rare case, a boy developed a peanut allergy in an odd way.)