Kyle Peveto

Across Louisiana, abundant sunshine, plentiful rain and fertile soils allow many fruits and pecans to thrive.

Without help from human hands, mayhaws grow in swamps, native pecan trees flourish and dewberries thread through thickets and fencerows.

For hundreds of years, Louisianans have cultivated orchards, growing citrus, pecans and other assorted fruits, and today the LSU AgCenter helps these growers produce traditional crops and develop new possibilities.

“It’s a hodgepodge. In my mind, it’s almost like a pot of gumbo,” Michael Polozola, the LSU AgCenter state fruit and nut specialist, said of the Louisiana fruit and nut crop landscape. “There’s a whole lot of stuff mixed together.”

Fruit crops contributed $32.9 million to the state’s $7.3 billion agricultural economy in 2023, according to the Louisiana Ag Summary from the LSU AgCenter, with strawberries, citrus and blueberries accounting for the majority of the value. Pecans contributed an additional $7.6 million.

Larger commercial growers account for much of the economic impact associated with fruits and nuts. However, many fruit and nut producers are part-time growers selling smaller amounts at farm stands and farmers markets, or they are home growers providing fresh fruits and pecans for friends and family.

AgCenter Extension professionals assist Louisiana producers of all sizes by providing advice and information about available varieties and production techniques. AgCenter fruit and nut specialists run trials to give knowledgeable advice to growers on which varieties grow best in each region.

“I think that’s how I view our role as extension,” Polozola said. “It is to try and help those producers turn that into a viable enterprise.”

Polozola has scoured the countryside searching for almost forgotten pecan trees that will produce the best crop for smaller-scale farmers while also evaluating dozens of strawberry plants to decide which are best for the home grower. In southeastern Louisiana, agent Mary Helen Ferguson has helped strawberry growers find solutions for diseases and pests that threaten their crops. In north Louisiana, AgCenter horticulture agent Kerry Heafner has worked to rescue fruit and vegetable varieties from near extinction.

Instructing growers on which fruit or pecan cultivars to plant becomes tricky. Often, the optimal tree or bush for a Louisiana grower cannot be found in garden centers, Polozola said.

“One of the biggest limitations to the fruit industry in our state is people being able to purchase the varieties that do well,” he said. “They are not very common. They’re very niche. A lot of times people have to special order them.”

To help increase the number of fruit and pecan varieties available to Louisiana growers, Polozola has worked with plant nurseries to graft top-performing but hard-to-find varieties of pecans, mayhaws and other fruits.

For example, pawpaws, a native fruit with a custardlike texture, have grown in popularity in recent years, but these trees are difficult to find. This spring, Polozola is working to graft 500 pawpaw trees to increase their availability.

In the New Orleans area, Anna Timmerman, a horticulture agent for St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes and the new AgCenter point of contact for citrus, investigates new growing methods and varieties for all of the state — not just the traditional commercial citrus farming region of southeastern Louisiana.

Commercial citrus production focusing primarily on satsuma and navel oranges is declining in that traditional area. One reason is quarantinable diseases, which include citrus canker and citrus greening, that restrict the movement of plants and materials.

“We have an aging farmer population, too, so a lot of them are retiring and selling property or pulling out trees to make it more manageable,” Timmerman said.

Today, Timmerman sees more people planting two or three trees in their backyards. These small-scale growers share their bounty with friends or sell bundles of fruit at farmers markets or from their homes.

“Citrus is such a rewarding crop,” Timmerman said. “You can get a lot of fruit in a very small amount of space once they get going.”

While many growers want the small, easy-to-peel satsumas, less common citrus fruits, such as pomelos, blood oranges and finger limes, which resemble tiny caviar-like pearls inside, are drawing interest from homeowners and New Orleans chefs who love local foods. Timmerman also works with tropical nurseries to give residents advice on more exotic fruits, including cold-hardy guavas and avocados and tropical fruits from southeastern Asia, such as dragon fruit.

“Some of the unusual cultivars, people are getting into collecting them,” she said.

In a facility at the Docville Farm owned by the Meraux Foundation in Violet in St. Bernard Parish, Timmerman researches container-grown citrus varieties, with dozens of plants growing in a greenhouse facility. She is searching for insights into new methods that can protect these fruits from freezes and disease.

Along with an array of citrus varieties, Louisiana growers have shown interest in several emerging crops, Polozola said. Blackberry and blueberry production has become more popular, and these berries can easily be grown on small plots or for commercial purposes.

Mayhaws, a tart berry native to swamps and sloughs, grow well when cultivated and managed like other fruit-producing trees. It has become popular for growers in northern Louisiana, where peach root rot has devastated the peach industry. Polozola thinks mayhaws could become a viable replacement for some peach growers.

“It would be neat to see if that might be able to fill that kind of niche,” he said.

Across the state, AgCenter Extension agents work to find new growing opportunities — and sometimes resurrect old ones — while advising growers of all sizes.

“That’s what I love about our extension model,” Polozola said. “By collaborating closely with growers and working directly in the fields, we not only address current challenges but also pave the way for new, emerging opportunities that could be profitable for their operations. Together, we are ensuring a bright and promising future for Louisiana's fruit and nut industry.”

Kyle Peveto is the editor of Louisiana Agriculture.

This article appears in the spring 2025 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.

Michael Polozola answers questions about blackberry production at an AgCenter Extension workshop on fruit production. Photo by Kyle Peveto

Anna Timmerman holds a satsuma grown at the Docville Farm screenhouse. Photo by Anthony Bailey