2011 Early Pecan Season Results

With drought conditions spreading across much of the fertile pecan growing regions in the United States, it is looking like it will be a tough year for pecan farmers as well as pecan enthusiasts. With the holiday season quickly approaching (where pecan demand is highest), as well as increased demand from Asia (specifically China), a perfect storm is brewing for this year's pecan crop.

Pecan prices are expected to be 20% higher this year, as compared to last year, because of lower supply and higher demand. Some in the industry are nervous that pecan prices may approach a level that is 55% higher than they were just three years ago.

With countless mainstream groceries store chains, pastry producers, food distributors, baked goods companies and the average consumer all clamoring for their "fair share of the pie" it comes as no surprise that there may be some hurt feelings this year when harvest numbers are turned in.

With the United States accounting for more than 75% of the world's pecan harvest, a down crop will have a trickle-down effect across the world. Many of the top producing pecan states, including Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas are buried in the South experiencing extreme drought.

Healthy amounts of water produce healthy pecan crops, in healthy amounts. While the pecan harvest process has been in full swing, in most places since the early Fall, early results are suggesting that total production will be well off from the past few years. Many pecan farmers are reporting the only word thus far that can be used to describe the overall harvest yield is "terrible".

Pecans are like other crops as they are made up of approximately 80% water. When water doesn't exist, pecans don't exist. This year will surely go down as one of the slowest years for pecan production, and quite likely one of the years where high prices are the only thing that is remembered.

Not all pecan farms are suffering: those that have invested in their own irrigation systems are reporting healthy harvest numbers and prices that are in line with previous years. These farms require a great deal of capital investment to ensure that they can support the irrigation needs of the pecan trees, as the nut itself is made of more than 80 water. This makes the balancing act of producing enough pecans, while keeping cost down, even more difficult.

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