Tag Archives: pecan farming Georgia

From Hospital Halls to Farm Fields: Haley Scruggs Honored for Excellence in Agriculture

Posted on by

Macon, GA |

For Haley Scruggs, life is anything but ordinary. By day, she’s a nurse practitioner specializing in vascular surgery—working long shifts, saving lives, and navigating the nonstop pace of hospital life. But when the scrubs come off, she steps into a very different role: fourth-generation farmer.

“Our farm is over a hundred years old,” said Scruggs. “We grow Christmas trees—choose and cut Christmas trees—pecans, and coastal Bermuda hay. But when I’m not here, I’m a nurse practitioner. So that is my full-time job. And this is my second full-time job. So, it keeps us very, very busy.”

That contrast—between the sterile hospital halls and the quiet beauty of the farm—is exactly what Scruggs says keeps her grounded.

“This is such a great way to just become grounded because that hospital can get very crazy and become very stressful,” she explained. “When you’re trying to save lives all day and handle patients’ situations, it is so nice to be able to come out and literally enjoy what God has given us and spend time on the farm with my family.”

Her unique story recently earned her top honors as the Georgia Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Excellence in Agriculture Award winner—recognition she says left her nearly speechless.

“Honestly, I was completely speechless,” said Scruggs. “Tears filled my eyes. I could not have been more excited. This is such a tough competition. And any competition with Farm Bureau—when you make it to the top level—you’re not competing with someone they just drug off the street. These are very top competitors, who are all extremely active in agriculture and are passionate about what they do.”

That passion—both for healing and for growing—is what sets Scruggs apart and helps connect two very different communities that she says often don’t understand each other.

“People at the hospital see a nurse practitioner. They don’t see someone in agriculture,” she said. “They don’t understand everything else I’m doing behind the scenes and how we’re involved in the community with our farm. Same thing with people on the farm—they don’t understand that we actually all work full-time jobs. So I think with that award, it is very important to show people both in and out of agriculture how you can become involved in the community.”

That sense of community is what first drew her to Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers program—and what keeps her coming back.

“What an incredible experience the Young Farmer and Rancher program has been,” Scruggs said. “A lot of times you think farmers are old and there’s no one out there you can really reach out to. But that’s completely wrong. There are so many young farmers and ranchers from across the state. It’s absolutely incredible to know that you have that support out there with people who are your age—some a little older, some a little younger.”

Whether in a hospital gown or work boots, Scruggs proves that passion and purpose can thrive in more than one field—and that the line between healing people and feeding them is not as far apart as it seems.

By: Damon Jones

Pecan Growers Gather in Ty Ty for Fall Field Day, Share Updates on Research and Recovery

Posted on by

Ty Ty, GA |

Pecan growers from across Georgia recently gathered for their annual Fall Field Day, an event designed to foster connection, share research updates, and provide expert insights essential to the future of the state’s pecan industry.

“With the research being done here, they don’t get to see this facility but every three years,” says Mary Bruorton, Executive Director of the Georgia Pecan Growers Association. “So this is a new opportunity for new growers and existing growers to see what research has been done… what new varieties are being worked on, and different disease protection as well.”

Among the speakers was Dr. Lenny Wells, Extension Pecan Specialist with the University of Georgia, who offered a crop update and highlighted one of this year’s biggest challenges: rain.

“With pecans, most of the varieties that we grow… they’re susceptible to a disease called pecan scab,” says Wells. “The more rainfall you get, the more disease pressure there’s going to be. You have to spray more. In years like this one, it rains so often that especially growers with a large acreage, they really can’t get over their acreage before it rains again. It drives up the cost of production considerably.”

For producers already operating on thin margins, those increased costs can be significant—which is why having reliable, science-based guidance is more important than ever.

“In general, farmers tend to focus on production—on how many pounds they make of whatever crop they’re looking at,” Wells explains. “But probably a more important figure to look at is the net return. And that goes back to the cost of production. So we’re always looking for ways that we can cut costs without hurting the yield.”

Despite the rain and the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene from last fall, Wells says the crop has shown resilience. In fact, many trees damaged by the storm unexpectedly produced a crop this year.

“We’ve seen something very surprising,” says Wells. “A lot of the trees that were left actually came back with some crop this year… Normally what we see after these hurricanes is that they completely take that next year off… but this year something was different.”

While it may not be a record-setting harvest, Wells says the fact that growers have a crop at all—especially in previously storm-damaged orchards—is a positive sign moving forward.

By: John Holcomb