Pecan harvest bounces back from poor start - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

While cold weather may seem like a killer for some farmers, it's a blessing for those who grow pecans.

Warm and dry weather earlier in the season caused some nuts to spoil.

But pecan growers say with cooler temperatures here now, they expect another large harvest.

We eat them in pies, pancakes, or just on there own, but is this year's pecan harvest in jeopardy?

"We're getting some quality problems. Probably due to the fact that the crop was a week to 10 days early and then the excessively warm weather. We were starting to see some decay in the pecans and some sprouting in the nuts," said Owner of W. G. Hamil Pecans and Produce Greg Hamil.

Experts say some of the bad quality is due to embryo rot where nuts sprout from too much moisture and later dry out.

"At this point in time we're probably on a record pace for the earliness of the harvest. If we don't start getting rain, many of our growers will be through harvesting by Thanksgiving this year," said Hamil.

But Hamil says the cold weather got here just in time.

He says Georgia growers are expected to produce about 100 million pounds of pecans this season, resulting in more than 150 million dollars towards the state's economy.

"And that's just the price paying to the farm. It doesn't include the value added. We've got a lot of processors here in the state and they provide a lot of jobs for people and that helps the local economies."

And Hamil says the prices will benefit both the producers and the consumers. "Because we did come back with a big crop, the prices are down somewhat from last year, but they are still bringing good prices and it will be a profitable year for the growers."

So while there was a bit of an early season scare, growers are busy and happy as the harvest season is in full swing.

Georgia has been the top pecan producing state in the country since the late 1800's.

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