In the News - October 2009
Pecans rally to 2007 production levels
LITTLE ROCK - Pecan production in Arkansas is expected to rally to 2007
levels, recovering from damage inflicted by hurricane remnants in 2008, the
National Agricultural Statistics Service said.
As of October 1, the service forecast Arkansas pecan production at 2.3 million
pounds, up 53 percent from 2008. However, Dan Chapman, resident director in
charge of the Division of Agriculture's Fruit Research Station at Clarksville,
said the forecast seems optimistic.
"It was so wet during pollination and wet during the year" that fruiting was
down, he said. "Around Little Rock, one variety, 'Desirable,' was hit with scab,
a fungal disease, and [it] devastated it.
"With the wet weather, growers could hardly get in to the orchards to spray
for scab," Chapman said. "So growers were caught in a double whammy."
Like their row crop counterparts, autumn rains are hindering harvest, which
begins now for trees in southern Arkansas and runs through November or December
for more northern orchards, depending on variety.
"I just got off the phone with someone in northwest Arkansas wanting to buy
pecans, but there haven't been any for sale in that area," he said. "I called a
couple of growers in the River Valley and Little Rock and they can't get into
the trees [to harvest]," he added.
Chapman said growers in Mississippi are facing the same dilemma.
The chief pecan-growing areas in Arkansas are in Miller and Pulaski County
and in the Arkansas River Valley near the Faulkner-Conway county line. There are
pockets of older trees and varieties around the state.
Oklahoma is forecast to see a 400 percent increase between 2008 and 2009, the
largest change of the 15 pecan producing states tracked by NASS. Georgia is
expected to be the largest producer of pecans in 2009, with 90 million pounds.
For more information on growing pecans at home, visit
www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-6110.pdf, or
www.uaex.edu/miller/H&G/Pecans/establishment_maintenance.htm. For
information about commercial production visit:
www.uaex.edu/miller/H&G/Pecans/PDF/production_SWAR.pdf.
The Cooperative Extension Service is a part of the University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture and offers its programs to all eligible persons
regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability,
marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
October 30, 2009
Media Contact: Elizabeth Fortune
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2120
efortune@uaex.edu
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