By Clint Thompson
Hurricane Helene’s $138 million impact to the pecan industry is devastating for Georgia growers. What’s even more demoralizing is that those preliminary estimates may not cover the entire losses to the pecan industry, explains Lenny Wells, University of Georgia Extension pecan specialist.
“We’re still looking at the possibility of more losses with whatever nuts are left in the trees, we don’t know what kind of shape they’re in. The shucks got bruised and beaten by the wind. Usually when that happens, there’s some issues there where some of those nuts might not make it. Some of those that do, quality may be off pretty bad on them. It’s just hard to say so far, really what the extent is,” Wells said.
“Of course, you’ve got the indirect effects of all that loss on the communities and the other businesses that depend on those pecan growers. It’s a pretty big loss. It’s certainly the biggest we’ve had to the pecan industry in Georgia from a storm like that.”
Worse Than Michael
That includes Hurricane Michael in 2018. That storm impacted pecan acreage in Southwest Georgia. Helene’s impact was mostly felt in the southeast part of the state.
“I really thought Michael would be the worst one that I would ever see in my lifetime as far as the extent of damage and loss. But this one certainly topped it,” Wells said. “With Michael, once it got into Georgia it weakened some, but this one seemed to keep going. Who would have thought that a hurricane coming up out of the Gulf would still have 80 to 100 mph winds once it reached Augusta?”
Estimates released by the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) indicate a $62 million impact to crop loss this year and $76 million in replanting costs. It is estimated that 400,000 trees were lost to the storm.