Expert Now Projects a Dramatically Improved Pecan Industry after Ivan

What was predicted to be a drastically changed Alabama pecan industry following the onslaught of hurricane Ivan actually may turn out to be a reinvigorated industry.

Several days before Ivan cut a broad swath of destruction throughout state’s Gulf Coast region, an Extension pecan expert predicted that one long-term effect of the storm would be a pecan industry located farther east away from its traditional concentration in the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast region. Many Gulf Coast growers, he believed, faced with yet another devastated crop, would call it quits and sell out to commercial developers --- a trend that would accelerate a shift in pecan orchard numbers to the Wiregrass region of southeastern Alabama. Initial inspection of Gulf Coast pecan acreage following the storm only confirmed his fears.

“The damage has been devastating – no doubt about it,” says Dr. Bill Goff, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System horticulturist and Auburn University professor of horticulture. “We’re talking an 80 percent loss of some orchards with the 20 percent so broken up that they’re unsalvageable.”

He changed his mind after spending several days following the storm talking with growers and others involved in cleanup efforts. Some growers, it now appears, aren’t budging, in spite of the damage.

After the initial shock, many growers --- much to his surprise – have decided to press on. Government disaster assistance, in many cases, is a major factor behind this decision --- something Goff attributes to effective lobbying by pecan and citrus growers in storm-ravaged sections of Florida, Alabama and even Georgia, where pecan growers sustained losses of between 40 and 50 percent in some cases. Growers hopes rallied after they learned the federal government might cover as much as 75 percent of replanting costs.

“What started out as ‘we don’t want to do this anymore’ has given way to a ‘can do’ attitude after the growers thought about it some more,” Goff says. “A lot of the people I thought would not replant after the storm fooled me. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if because of this government assistance, we actually ended up with more trees.”

Equally encouraging, he says, is a growing desire among many growers with storm-damaged orchards to replace downed trees with newer pecan varieties that don’t require as much spraying as older varieties --- varieties not only associated with lower production costs but increased land values “because they fit better near residential areas,” he says.

“What this means, basically, is that if growers ultimately decide to sell out, they’ll be dealing with land that is more valuable because of these newer varieties,” Goff says.

The newer varieties also will also reinvigorate smaller orchards, which comprise the bulk of Alabama’s pecan industry. Many of these already had fallen victim to diseases and pests and were in desperate need of renovation even before Ivan struck, according to Goff.

“If you own 1,000 acres of pecan trees, you probably can afford to pay for the $60,000 sprayer to spray large trees for diseases,” Goff says. “On the other hand, if you’re 50 years old and intend to plant a 10-acre orchard to supplement your retirement income, a large, expensive sprayer isn’t feasible, so your best bet will be planting with one of these newer varieties requiring much less spraying.”

What Goff describes as “forward-thinking” growers already were replacing downed trees with newer varieties even before the storm occurred. Growers have demonstrated time and again that orchards where this ongoing replacement has occurred typically will recover much sooner than the 12 to 15 years normally required after a major storm.

The effects of the storm, he believes, will only hasten this trend.

“It was a devastating storm and I would be the last person to minimize the suffering it has caused growers,” Goff says. “But it does present us with an opportunity to transform 100-year-old orchards into something better in terms of pest resistance and possibly even ensure a brighter future for our growers.”

[Source: Dr. Bill Goff, Alabama Cooperative Extension System Horticulturist and Auburn University Professor of Horticulture, (334) 844-5480.]

Posted by Jim Langcuster at September 29, 2004 05:19 PM | TrackBack