By Clint Thompson
Pecan harvests are not panning out like Georgia growers expected and hoped for this harvest season.
Lenny Wells, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension pecan specialist, said the crop was ‘light’ early into the harvest season. Georgia pecan grower Randy Hudson believes Georgia yields will fall below 100 million pounds this year.
“We’ve had a beautiful harvest season. We knew it wasn’t going to be as good as some people were thinking. I honestly believe we’re going to be far shorter than many estimated,” Hudson said. “I’m in an orchard of Schley pecans today, and we knew we had some scab out here, but we didn’t know how bad it was. We could see it but thought the nuts would open and would be able to salvage them. It’s just not happening. The yields are not here.
“I would say that Georgia’s going to be really pushed to come up with 100 million pounds; I don’t think we will, even with all of these new varieties we’ve got out here and these pretty good yields coming off these younger trees. I just don’t think we’re going to have the yields that we expected.”
Drought Conditions
Hudson’s frustration also stems from the lack of rain present over the pecan-producing region over the past couple of months. The lingering drought in September and October led to quality issues in the crop, contributing to the lack of yields. And to top it off, prices remain low.
“We were looking at some nuts we thought were going to be grading much higher than they are. All of our orchards are irrigated, but when we got in there, Desirables should have been grading higher,” Hudson said. “It’s frustrating, particularly from what we hear the prices are; to have to try to pay for what it costs to grow pecans and not to get any better prices than what we’re seeing quoted.
“It’s frustrating times.”