A New Approach to Pecan Inspection

For Jay Payne, pecans have been part of life since childhood. Growing up on a farm with a pecan grove, Payne remembers his mother telling him that if he wanted Christmas money, “It’s down there on the ground, waiting to be picked up.” What started as a childhood chore eventually became Payne’s Pecans, the family-owned business he founded in 2004. Based in Rich Hill, Missouri, the company works primarily with local growers by cleaning their pecans, storing product, and helping connect them with buyers.

Today, Payne’s handles anywhere from 400,000 to 2 million pounds annually, depending on the crop. “Even after all these years in the pecan business, one challenge I’ve struggled to solve has been product inspection,” said Payne. “Trying to find several people to stand at a table and look through pecans for hours is next to impossible, especially these days. But in addition to that, there’s only so much a person can see with their eyes. A pecan can look perfectly fine on the outside and still have something wrong inside. It’s an imperfect process.”

Payne’s is not alone. Across the pecan industry, processors are navigating labor constraints, rising quality expectations, and increasing pressure to operate efficiently. Product inspection often sits at the center of these competing demands.

Visible foreign material and obvious shell defects can be addressed through conventional cleaning and manual or optical sorting, but internal issues are another matter. Insect damage from pecan weevils, poorly developed kernels, and other hidden defects can be present without obvious external signs. To address these challenges, many processors across regions are exploring new technologies that can improve inspection accuracy and identify defects that traditional methods may miss.

In 2025, Payne decided it was time to adopt a new approach. The company installed a Multiscan MXV-Bulk X-ray inspection system from WECO, becoming the first operation in North America to deploy this type of X-ray technology for pecan inspection.

While advanced optical sorters are highly effective at identifying defects and foreign material based on external characteristics like color and shape, X-ray introduces a different capability by evaluating internal density differences within the nut itself. For pecans, where hidden internal defects can significantly affect grade, that distinction is especially important. Unlike commodities sold strictly by gross weight, in-shell pecans are assessed based on edible kernel yield. Buyers take samples from lots, crack the representative nuts, and calculate the percentage of usable nutmeat inside. Lower-quality nuts reduce the payout of the entire lot.

At Payne’s, the inspection system now sits toward the end of the line, after conventional pre-cleaning equipment has removed much of the lightweight debris and obvious foreign material. The machine moves pecans across a channel belt that stabilizes them during scanning and evaluates each object for density to detect hidden defects. It also identifies dense contaminants such as stones that may have made it through upstream equipment, creating another layer of product protection before final shipment.

Most rejected objects are removed with an air valve system, while heavier contaminants are diverted through a secondary mechanical rejection path. For processors that shell product downstream, additional protection against stones is especially valuable. While poor-quality nuts reduce lot value, dense contaminants pose a more immediate risk because they can damage cracking equipment and cause unplanned downtime.

“Overall, what surprised me most about the X-ray system is what it could actually detect,” Payne said. “You can look at a pecan in the reject bin and think there’s nothing wrong with it. Then you crack it open, and there’s no good nutmeat inside. It’s catching things we just couldn’t see before.”

The new visibility into internal quality has translated into measurable improvements. According to Payne, the company’s average product grade improved from 40 to 44 after installing the system. The four-point improvement reflects a higher percentage of edible kernel yield across the lot, which directly affects its value.

“When we get ready to sell a load, they’re looking at what percentage of actual nutmeat is in there,” Payne said. “If you’re getting 2 cents a point and you move from a 40 to a 44, that’s another 8 cents a pound. On a 50,000-pound load, that adds up in a hurry.”

Payne has also seen more consistent quality in outbound shipments. Historically, some lower-grade nuts are expected to make their way into higher-grade lots. Payne says his A-grade lots now contain less than 1 percent lower-grade contamination, compared with the 2 to 3 percent range often considered acceptable in the industry.

In relationship-driven agricultural markets, reliability matters. For operations that market product through repeat buyers, a reputation for consistent quality can become an important competitive advantage. “I’ve had buyers tell me this is some of the best product they’ve seen,” Payne said. “If buyers know they’re getting a high-quality shipment from us, it’s great for business.”

The operational impact has extended beyond product quality. Before installing the X-ray system, Payne’s relied heavily on manual inspection at the end of the line to catch defects and foreign material missed upstream. As with any process that depends heavily on human judgment, inspection results can vary based on staffing levels, experience and fatigue.

“We had six to eight people on the inspection table before. Now we’re running with one person there, and they hardly remove anything after it goes through the X-ray system,” Payne said. “Plus, the reality is people get tired, and different people catch different things. A machine looks at every pecan the same way every time.”

The reduction in inspection bottlenecks has also allowed Payne’s to move product more efficiently. Payne estimates throughput has increased by 2,000 to 3,000 pounds per hour. “Before, defect removal could slow everything down,” he said. “Now the line just keeps moving.”

Ease of operation has also been a notable part of the experience. Advanced technology often carries a reputation for complexity, but Payne says this system has been remarkably straightforward. That simplicity matters for smaller and mid-sized operations like his, where specialized technical staff may not be readily available. “A lot of people hear ‘X-ray’ and assume it’s going to be complicated, but I haven’t had to mess with it,” Payne said. “We just turn it on and go to work.”

Payne has already had calls from people in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Georgia wanting to know how it’s working. “It tells me folks are paying attention,” Payne said.

That attention reflects a broader shift taking place across the industry. Although pecan processors have traditionally relied on manual inspection and optical sorting, automated inspection technologies capable of identifying defects that are difficult to detect through conventional methods may offer a new approach to improving both quality and operational efficiency. That combination of improved quality control and reduced reliance on manual inspection is becoming increasingly attractive as processors navigate labor constraints, higher quality expectations, and tighter operating margins.

For Payne, the value is straightforward. “I honestly don’t know if I’d have stayed in the business if we hadn’t found a better way to remove product defects and foreign material,” Payne said. “That’s how big a difference this system has made.”