The American Peanut Research and Education Association, Inc. APREA was incorporated on October 26, 1968 with a charter issued in Georgia in 1969. However, the development of the organization started some ten or so years earlier through a series of Peanut Improvement Working Group conferences held in 1957, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, and culminating with the first meeting of APREA, July 13, 15- 1969 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The purposeto form a cooperative effort between the United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service (USDA/ARS), the nations' land grant college's research divisions, and the peanut industry to improve peanut quality through research.

The objectives formed in these early years:

1. To become more acquainted to each other

2. To exchange information

3. To broaden the outlook on peanut problems

4. To set the stage for an integrated approach to solving problems of the peanut industry from growers to consumers

5. To focus attention on needed research

These are still the foundation of the American Peanut Research and Education Society - APRES, celebrating its 50^th birthday this week, July 10 to 12, 2018, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

From APRES' first President, Dr. Norman Davis, to the current President, Dr. Peter Dotray, the organization has been blessed with volunteers who have dedicated their careers to this calling. We thank you all for your service.

Through the years, the language of peanut science has changed and grown as USDA, peanut researchers/educators, and the peanut industry worked together to find solutions. The articles in this special 50^th Anniversary issue of Peanut Science reflect on our beginnings as an organization; the strides we have made in the past 50 years; and, take a look at what is just beyond the horizon.