Tag Archives: Georgia pecan industry

Pecan Growers Rebuild After Hurricane Helene as Signs of Recovery Begin to Emerge

Posted on by

Keysville, GA |

Eight months after Hurricane Helene tore through southeast Georgia, pecan growers are still grappling with the storm’s devastating impact—an event now considered more destructive to the state’s pecan industry than even Hurricane Michael. Heavy rains and powerful winds flattened orchards, toppled mature trees, and left producers reeling just weeks before harvest.

“You had virtually seventy-five percent crop loss in the counties the hurricane hit,” says Andrew Sawyer, Area Pecan Agent with UGA. “But the biggest, hardest thing was the tree loss. Almost 400,000 trees were down. And then you have the future income loss. The total impact will easily surpass Hurricane Michael, and when Michael happened, we didn’t think we’d see anything worse than that.”

For growers, losing a tree means far more than losing a single harvest. It means starting over—and waiting more than a decade to regain profitability.

“It’s one thing to lose the crop and say, ‘Well, we’ll try again next year,’” Sawyer explains. “But when you lose the tree, you lose the crop with it—and future production. Pecan trees take seven to eight years before they begin producing again. But to make your money back, due to planting costs, it’s really more like fifteen years.”

Months later, cleanup efforts continue across the region. While some growers are making progress, others—particularly those in the hardest hit zones—are still in the early stages.

“For some, it’s been very slow,” says Sawyer. “There are still trees on the ground that haven’t even been cleaned up. But in places where the tree loss was maybe thirty to forty percent, they’ve at least been able to clear out the debris, and the remaining trees have a shot at producing this year. Replanting, for most, will begin next year.”

Amid all the challenges, there’s a glimmer of hope. Sawyer says that in some areas, even those hit hardest by the storm, surviving trees are showing signs of resilience—and production.

“Generally, after a big storm like that, you don’t expect a crop. So this has been a surprise,” he says. “Across East and Southeast Georgia, there’s actually a very decent crop on the remaining trees. Some of it is even in the hardest hit areas. In other regions it’s more spotty, but across several varieties I’ve looked at, there’s reason to be optimistic. And that wasn’t expected.”

By: John Holcomb

Annual Convention Beneficial for Pecan Industry

Posted on by

Perry, GA

Down in Perry, pecan producers got the chance to attend this year’s Georgia Pecan Growers Association’s annual conference; a time that allows growers and industry professionals the chance to fellowship, see the latest and greatest equipment, and learn about what’s happening in the industry.

“It’s really important for the industry to be transparent with all the knowledge that’s out there available to them,” says Samantha McLeod, Executive Director of the Georgia Pecan Growers Association. “This really focuses on their industry in particular, helps them with production on their farms and it also helps them with marketing their product after harvest. We have a lot of our national industry groups here reporting on what’s taking place, both domestically and internationally, so the growers can be a little bit more in the know about the marketplace since we aren’t a publicly traded commodity. It’s a tough, niche industry for us, so conferences like this, for specialty crops such as Georgia pecans is just really critical for awareness, joining of knowledge and information, and of course, camaraderie for the industry.

One highlight of the conference was getting to hear from Justin Jones, a Georgia producer that serves as the Industry Relations Chair for the American Pecan Council. Jones spoke to producers about the council’s efforts and challenges with getting into international markets, especially at a time when other tree nuts are struggling with price.

“From an international standpoint, the one thing we have to do is separate the pecan away from other nuts. When you look at almonds, walnuts, when you, historically, look at where we’ve moved relative to each other, we move very closely, but now you look at what the challenges the almonds are going through, the challenges the walnuts are going through, especially the price point, and now you try and separate that out because the almond and the walnut guys right now are underwater with their price. So that’s one thing we’re trying to do is keep pushing the pecan awareness and that’s the struggle is trying to fight against other, cheaper nut prices,” says Jones.

However, according to Jones, markets seem to be opening up in Asia, as India announced earlier this year that they’ll be lowering tariffs on pecans by seventy percent and China has finally lifted their covid restrictions, to which Jones says has already boosted exports.

“I think one of the biggest things we’re looking at for this coming year would possibly be China, which is a big market for us, not as big as it has been but it’s still a big market. You look at when they released their covid restrictions and kind of went back to a normal situation, you could say, where you look at our exports just in the last month or two; they have climbed tremendously just from somewhat opening up of the markets and people getting back to a normal way of life in China. Will that move the needle enough to focus back to the grower level on price? Still to be determined. Especially with other nut prices like they are right now,” says Jones.

By: John Holcomb