He was trying to help poor Alabama sharecroppers whose cotton yields were declining, and he knew that planting peanuts in their fields would replenish those soils so that their cotton yields would be better a few years later.
Pokušavao je pomoći siromašnim uzgajivačima u Alabami čiji je prinos pamuka opadao, a on je znao kako će sadnja  kikirikija na njihovim poljima obnoviti tu zemlju kako bi prinosi pamuka bili  bolji nekoliko godina poslije.