Pecan Production Program
The last few years have been devastating for the Central Texas pecan industry.
In both 2022 and 2023, we had extreme and exceptional drought amongst Comanche County pecan orchards and extremely high temperatures in Central Texas.
This coupled with a few winters with single digit temperatures has been a rough time for our local pecan orchards. Not only have we seen crop loss, but also widespread tree loss in the area.
We estimate approximately 1/3 of the pecan trees in the county have either died or been damaged beyond saving.
Just in pecan sales in Comanche County we saw a drop from $24,172,000.00 in 2021 to $12,177,800.00 in 2024 due to lost production because of the drought and temperature extremes.
This large loss of current and future income is not only devastating for growers, but also the local economy. The pecan industry has a long history of providing jobs and pumping money into the local economy; for an agriculture-based county like Comanche, these losses are very hard to overcome.
However, despite the negative, pecans are still a very important crop for the county.
To help support this vital industry the Comanche County Pecan Committee, County Extension office, and agriculture sponsors will be offering a Pecan Production program.
The program will be on Thursday, April 3rd at the De Leon City Auditorium. Registration will start at 9:30 and the meeting will run from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.
We have some excellent speakers and presentations planned for the program. Dr. Larry Stein, Texas A&M Horticulture and Pecan Specialist will be talking about “Understanding and Managing Vivipary, Kernel Necrosis and other Factors Affecting Nut Quality,” Dr. Jake Mowrer, State Soil and Water Management Specialist will be discussing “Soil Optimizing Nutrient Provision and Ratios for Pecan Production,” and Dr. Kyle Slusher, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Entomologist Pecan, Viticulture, and Fruit will be talking about “Pecan Pest Management Updates.” These are all excellent speakers and the best in their respective fields.
We will be offering 2 CEU’s- 1 IPM and 1 General credit. There is no fee, and lunch will be covered by our excellent pecan sponsors. If you grow or have an interest in pecans, I encourage you to make this program.