Meeting to Discuss U.S. Standards for Grades of Inshell and Shelled Pecans

The American Pecan Council shared a message Thursday, Feb. 23, inviting industry members to a Zoom meeting held by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Specialty Crop Inspection (SCI) Division for a discussion on pecans. SCI is seeking clarification on several areas in the proposed pecan standards based on the feedback USDA received during the comment period.

USDA issued the original proposed standards on June 1, 2022, but these standards did not align with the proposal submitted by the industry in 2019. However, USDA published two Revised Discussion Drafts on June 28, 2022, that were more in line with the industry’s proposal.

The National Pecan Shellers Association, American Pecan Council and National Pecan Federation reviewed the proposed standards and submitted comments to USDA supporting the Revised Discussion Drafts with minor changes.

“Due to the complexity of these revisions, we want to provide an opportunity to meet and clarify language in specific sections of the proposed standards to ensure there is no misunderstanding on how any proposed language would be applied before we move forward with rulemaking,” USDA AMS wrote in the invitation.

• When: Feb 28, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US and Canada)
• Register in advance for this meeting here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Click here to see the topics and questions that will be addressed during this meeting.