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(11/26/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — Some Louisiana pecan producers could amass a larger pile of rejected nuts because of abnormally dry weather through the late summer and early fall, said Michael Polozola, the LSU AgCenter state fruit and nut specialist.
A lack of rain just before harvest prevented some pecans from filling out, Polozola said, leading to lower yields for many producers.
“It's not that the overall pecan crop will be of low quality, but there will be pockets of lower quality due to the late-season drought. While some early season pecans were well-developed, poor fill and kernel quality will be more of an issue for pecans that drop later in the season.”
Pecan production is a multimillion-dollar business throughout Louisiana, with native trees and improved orchards producing 6.9 million pounds of the nuts in 2023, a crop worth $7.6 million, according to the 2023 Louisiana Summary, a publication published by the LSU AgCenter. Pecan harvest season begins in October and lasts until Christmas, with different varieties of pecans reaching a mature stage at different points in the season. Many producers plan to finish by Thanksgiving.
Prices for pecans have dropped nationwide, Polozola said, even though Hurricane Helene hurt the crop in Georgia, which is the nation’s largest pecan producer with more than 170,000 acres of pecan trees. Polozola has seen prices in Louisiana range from 48 to 80 cents per pound depending on the variety.
Not all pecan growers are suffering. Some pecan producers with orchards that have high water tables, including those near the Mississippi River in Pointe Coupee Parish, have reported higher yields and fewer quality issues, Polozola said.
Many pecan varieties have an alternate bearing tendency, which means trees produce a larger crop in one year — an “on year” — and then a smaller crop the following year, Polozola said. For producers experiencing an on year this fall, more pecans might go to the reject pile.
Abnormally dry weather that began in 2022 and peaked with a sustained drought in 2023 did not severely affect pecan production, Polozola said. Some diseases that affect yield, such as pecan scab, do not gain a foothold in dry conditions, he said.
“Even though there were some varieties that did well because of the drier conditions, it’s not something we would want to happen all the time,” he said. “It has a cumulative negative effect on tree health, and we had two years in a row of that, and it was hard.”
Looking ahead, producers are concerned about the trend of adverse weather conditions creating challenging production environments and consistently low pecan prices, Polozola said. They are exploring strategies to mitigate these effects, such as selecting low-input varieties, to continue producing with fewer resources.
Pecans grow on a tree in Pointe Coupee Parish in early November. Photo by Kyle Peveto/LSU AgCenter
