LSU: La. Pecan Crop Falling A Little Below Expectations
Expectations of a bumper pecan crop in Louisiana this year have been lowered due to unfavorable weather, but that shouldn't affect your pies for the holidays.
That's according to LSU AgCenter Associate Professor Charlie Graham, who says their original projection for this year was around 15 million pounds of pecans.
"But due to the hurricane problem in the southwest, some disease, and the tremendous among of rain we had in August," said Graham. "It's probably going to be 3-4 million below that."
Graham says even though numbers are falling short of what they had hoped this year, pecans are still in greater supply than they were last year.
"We're going to produce what we consider an average crop," said Graham. "That's usually between 10 and 11 million pounds."
Graham also says prices should remain steady and not go down because the Georgia crop, expected to be about 90-100 million pounds, was reduced by 30 percent because of damage from hurricanes. He says Pointe Coupee Parish is typically the number one pecan producer in the state.
"It's way off this year," said Graham. "But the southern part and central is going to be your best bet. Also the east is good."