This year, while pecan shakers were headed into the orchards to begin kicking up dust, John White, Executive Director of the Western Pecan Growers Association, was working to set up the 2022 Western Pecan Conference [March 8-10 at New Mexico’s Las Cruces Convention Center] as a place to discuss the harvest totals. 

“The outlook is pretty good and we’re expecting a pretty sizeable crop this year, although we ran a bit late to shake,” he said.  “The problem this year centered on weather conditions as we had a problem with it staying warm longer than it usually does and the trees weren't defoliating like we needed.  We were not getting the cold weather we needed to speed up the harvest and that’s made us fall behind. And windstorms knocked some of the crop off, while everybody kind of waited for the cold to show up.”

At the time of our interview, the needed cold nights were on their way in and White welcomed their arrival.  “Warm weather results in stick-tights because things just don’t open up like they normally do.  That’s related to the changing climate and perhaps because people are shutting off water supplies, so it continues to stay hot from southern New Mexico to everything west of the Pecos River in west Texas.”

The later-than-usual harvest ran pretty much throughout the Western region, and he predicts: “I think we’ll see a few more problems caused by this warmer weather lingering on, issues like sprouting where the bark doesn’t dry and fall off, but stays moist against the pecan even while the sun warms the temperatures and heats things up like a mini-incubation chamber that starts the incubation process.”

The bad timing of this warmer weather also works in favor of pest problems.  “The Los Cruses and El Paso areas as well as Arizona and California have stayed pretty clean of any weevil problems, but the east side of New Mexico has had its share of pest problems.”

Big crop in New Mexico

Asked to further define his “sizeable crop” definition, White said, “Some of the early estimates have come in at around 70 million pounds out of New Mexico.  The number of pecans looks like that might be possible and we’re optimistic about the quality of product, but we don’t yet know if the weight is going to be there because of the crazy weather.  Like everybody else, we just have to wait and see what the next day or week or month will be like and how we can best respond to it.

“Over the last two years, we’ve had freezes in New Mexico as early as October, literally catching the crop before the shuck had begun to open.  Lots of stick-tights here because the climate is going just crazy.  Some growers are starting to look at other varieties, like Pawnee, to try and ensure an earlier harvest, but there are inherent problems with the early varieties too, so you have to kind of sort through the pros and cons because the weather is the hardest thing to predict.”

Another factor to consider is grow patterns.  “If you work with an annual crop, like cotton, you can make adjustments throughout the year to make a change for the following year.  With pecans, you can’t make those rapid changes.  You’ve got to live with what you started out with, so to speak, and it’s a gamble to see if it will all work out.”