Tag Archives: Georgia pecan harvest

Dry Spell and Uncertainty: Georgia Farmers Battle Drought After a Promising Start

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Watkinsville, GA |

For Georgia’s farmers, 2025 has been a year of extremes. What began as a promising, moisture-rich growing season quickly turned into a frustrating and persistent drought—putting many crops and producers in a tough spot as they headed into harvest.

“The beginning of the year, it was really quite wet and cloudy,” said Pam Knox, Agricultural Climatologist with the University of Georgia. “The cloud cover really hurt some of the crops like pecans. And the wet conditions also made all the plants think that it was going to be a great season. And then we hit mid-August and stopped raining. So it was dry, dry, dry.”

That sharp shift, Knox says, couldn’t have come at a worse time—just as producers were finishing up their growing seasons and preparing to harvest key crops like peanuts and pecans.

“That drought has been really at a critical time for people who are trying to get their peanuts in or get the pecans finished, because they’re not getting any water,” she explained. “They’ve gotten a little bit. Most of it’s been in North Georgia, not so much in South Georgia. And so the drought is the worst down there.”

According to Knox, one of the biggest contributors to this fall’s drought was the lack of tropical storm activity in the region—something Georgia growers usually rely on for much of their late-season moisture.

“One of the big culprits of the drought this fall has been the lack of tropical activity in the southeast,” Knox said. “Almost every year we get some tropical storm that comes over Georgia and this year, there was nothing in the Gulf of Mexico. Usually about 30% of our rain in the summer months—especially during the peak hurricane season—comes from those systems. We didn’t get any of that.”

The result? An especially dry fall, with no real relief in sight.

Looking ahead, Knox warns that more challenges may be on the horizon as current forecasts suggest Georgia could be in for a warm and dry winter heading into 2026—raising concerns about spring planting and pest pressures.

“The early predictions for this winter are that we’re likely to be drier than usual,” she said. “That means it could be easier to get into the fields in spring, but there may not be as much moisture. The potential for an early season drought goes up if we don’t recharge the soil moisture over the winter.”

Warm winter temperatures could also mean fewer chill hours for fruit crops and more overwintering pests and diseases—leading to higher input costs for growers next year.

“Farmers are going to have to think about how they’re going to deal with that once we hit spring again,” Knox added. “Are you going to have to put extra treatments on early next year? That’s something farmers have to keep in mind.”

As 2025 wraps up, many producers are hoping that forecasts change—and that 2026 brings better conditions for the state’s number one industry.

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Pecan Growers Navigate Tough Season as Harvest Nears

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Tifton, GA |

Pecan growers across Georgia are gearing up for harvest season, which is just weeks away. But unlike past years, 2025’s growing season has been anything but ideal, thanks to excessive rainfall that has brought disease pressure and damaged crops—especially the state’s more delicate varieties.

“Anytime we get as much rain as we’ve had this year, it’s not necessarily a good thing for pecans,” says Lenny Wells, Pecan Extension Specialist with UGA. “The more rainfall we get, the more disease pressure we have. And for a lot of the varieties that we grow, the more disease pressure we have, the more we have to spray to keep the disease off of them.”

The challenge hasn’t just been the total rainfall, but also how frequently it’s fallen.

“When it’s raining every day or four or five days during the week, you just don’t get enough time in between those rains for the leaves to dry out—and then to get out there and be able to spray them before it rains again,” Wells explains. “That causes some issues.”

Aside from increased input costs, the moisture has led to crop damage before some nuts even began to mature. Wells says this is especially true for thin-shelled varieties.

“Some of the thinner shelled varieties are susceptible to splitting,” he says. “Most of the time, that split will occur inside the shuck. But when it happens very quickly, and you get a really heavy influx of rain that the tree sucks up fast, it can actually cause splitting or rupture of that shuck on the outside.”

Ironically, the same rain that caused so many issues earlier in the season is now something growers are hoping for. That’s because the final stages of nut development require plenty of water—whether from the skies or from supplemental irrigation.

“We’re right here at the tail end of it,” says Wells. “Once the shell’s hardened, they start to fill the kernel in the nut, and that’s a high energy demand process for the tree. It takes a lot of water.”

Despite everything, there’s cautious optimism. While it’s not expected to be a bumper crop, growers are seeing better-than-expected yields thanks in part to younger trees coming into maturity.

“This year’s crop looks decent. It’s actually a little better than expected after that storm,” Wells says. “A lot of our old Stuart trees, which still make up a good bit of our acreage in the state, they’re pretty off this year. But we’ve got a lot of younger trees coming in, and that’s kind of offsetting some of that.”

With harvest just around the corner, growers are hoping a strong finish can help salvage a challenging season.

By: Damon Jones