January 2018

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New Year, New Recipes

Layered Mason Jar Salad From Brenda McGranahan, Cinnabon, & Benjamin Stanley, Baskin Robbins Prep 15 minutes | Cook 15 minutes | Serves 4 Ingredients For the Vinaigrette: 1/4 cup pecan oil 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon honey 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 2 cara cara oranges, zested 1 tablespoon bourbon,...

So, what happened to my pecans?

Hard to believe another year has come and gone, and with it, another pecan harvest of some pretty iffy pecans in some areas of the state. Although other folks had very good pecans, the norm for many areas of Texas has been only fair to good pecans. Please, please, don’t get me wrong. I am...

A Pecan Homecoming: Leading a Way to a Brighter Future

Harvest has come to an end and the retail season continues to slow down as well, but with a new year comes new opportunities to chase after long-sought dreams and to bring change to a retail business, orchard, or pecan operation. It’s a new year for taking chances. Traveling from East to West across the...

USPGC: “China Lowers Tariff on Pecans”

The Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China announced on Nov. 22 that the tariff on some imported products, including pecans, will be lowered to 7 percent starting on Dec. 1, 2017. This announcement came a month after Kevin Ivey, president of the U.S. Pecan Growers Council, visited with Chinese pecan growers, toured farms...

Pecan Grading Demonstrations: A way to evaluate pest problems

As the 2017 season is either finished or winding down for most growers, it is this time of year that I like to look back and evaluate the pest problems that were encountered during the season. One way that I get another view outside of producer visits is through the county pecan shows that I...

Pruning: A Proven Planting Method

The tree-planting trend continues here in the Southeast. I don’t know of a single nursery in Georgia that has trees available for planting now unless you booked way in advance, and many nurseries are rapidly booking up for the 2019 crop as well. So, with all the trees being planted and with the damage growers...

Training Pecans for Performance, Perseverance & Productivity

Training is the act of teaching or developing skills and knowledge related to a specific competency, thus improving one’s capability, capacity, performance, steadfastness, and productivity. In this respect, I would like to write here on training the young pecan tree, as I think that is what most may be doing this time of year. Although...

Letter from the Editor: A New Year, A New Journey

It’s 2018. Crazy, right? I can barely believe how time moves so fast, yet so slow. Like every year before it, 2017 passed like each moment was lived out in the ocean. Moments inundated us; crashed into us like tsunami-size waves. Pushing us under, stealing the breath from our lungs, potentially drowning us in their...

Looking Back and Ahead on the Pecan Journey

When I first joined the A&M Extension Faculty in 1969, Bluefford G. Hancock wanted me to learn pecans and sent me to Hugo Pape in Seguin, Texas once a month for two years. It was the best training one could have received; we learned the same topics taught in school, but this was real life....

National Pecan Federation Formed in First Step Toward a PAC

Five industry associations have united to support an industry-wide effort to secure representation in Washington, D.C. through a lobbyist and a new potential association—the National Pecan Federation Inc.—in the hopes of creating a political action committee (PAC) for the pecan industry). The National Pecan Federation (NPF) would act in the interest for the entire industry...