5 Tips for Getting Involved in the Industry
So, you’ve taken the first step. You decided to enter the pecan industry. Maybe that means you bought some pecan trees and have land to plant them on. Or perhaps you started shopping for materials to build a shelling and cleaning facility. But now what? After deciding to become a grower or sheller, you may...
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Growing Pecans & Growing an Industry in South Africa
“I almost didn’t recognize you!” Hardus du Toit, the Senior Technical Officer of the South African Pecan Nut Producers’ Association and our official guide to South Africa, exclaimed to me on the morning of SAPPA’s Annual General Meeting and Information Day. It was our second day in South Africa, and after a good night’s rest...
Read moreMusings on Pecan Tree Pruning
In the 31 years I served as Extension Pecan Specialist with Texas A&M, the most common question from growers, new and veteran, was how do I prune my pecans. My answer was always the same: don’t prune. It is among the least important jobs in the orchard. Tree spacing, irrigation, applying nitrogen and zinc, IPM,...
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It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s the Supernut!
Realizing Resolution Fatigue 2020 is well underway, and like many people, you may have made plans for a healthier year. Resolutions have long been a part of ringing in a new year—pledges to make this year better than the last with improved habits and lifestyle changes. Living a healthier life is often first on the...
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Obscure Scale: A Stealthy Pest of Pecan
A handful of pest species cause most economic injury to pecan year after year. Pests attacking the developing nut include the stink bug complex, pecan weevil, hickory shuckworm, and pecan nut casebearer, while the aphid complex and mites attack the foliage. Occasionally, other pest species may cause sporadic injury, but their activity is usually limited...
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Letter from the Editor: “Winner of Our 2nd Annual Photo Contest”
Dear Readers, The winner of our second annual Photo Contest has been chosen, and you saw their beautiful photo on the cover. For the second year in a row, Dan Shepherd of Shepherd Farms in Clifton, Missouri, submitted the winning picture. Congratulations, Mr. Shepherd, and thank you for sharing your photography talent with us! We...
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The Relentless Menace of the Wild Hog
Martin Mount has taken the same dirt track into his family’s pecan grove since he was a little boy. His great-grandfather worked another man’s pecan orchard, but Mount’s grandfather bought his own property beside the Deep Fork River in 1939. With a cross-cut saw, an axe, and homemade tree poison, his granddad spent years clearing...
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A Strong Case for Upgrading Trucks
Food distributors are increasingly realizing the need to upgrade the trucks in their transportation fleet more frequently by replacing older, less efficient units that cost more to operate and produce harmful emissions. Without question, newer, eco-efficient trucks deliver significant savings in fuel and maintenance costs. According to the most recent truck lifecycle data index, food distribution...
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Training Pecan Trees, Setting Some Limits
From the words of late Chris Blanchard, creator of the “Farmer to Farmer” podcast and a MOSES Organic Farmer Conference organizer, “Farms are like two-year-olds. They’re very loud and very insistent about what they need and what they want. If you don’t set some limits, you’re going to be a slave to the two-year-old.” If...
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