Irma could hurt a promising pecan harvest, and other crops too

Middle Georgia farmers, especially pecan growers, could see substantial losses from the high winds that Tropical Storm Irma lashed Middle Georgia with on Monday.

Jeff Cook, the county agent for Peach and Taylor counties, said high winds and heavy rain can damage all crops, but pecan trees are especially vulnerable, as well as peach trees to a lesser extent.

Pecan trees are holding a bumper crop of the nuts right now, he said, but the winds — with possible gusts up to 60 mph — could devastate the crop by breaking limbs and even felling trees entirely. Heavy rains can also cause diseases in pecan and peach trees.

And unlike damage to row crops, which would hurt a farmer’s bottom line only this year, it can take years for pecan and peach growers to fully recover. When a full-grown pecan tree is knocked out, it can take 15 years for a new one to grow back to same size, with about six years for peach trees.

Georgia is the nation's largest supplier of pecans, accounting for about a third of the country’s pecan production. An average pecan harvest in Georgia is about 88 million pounds, according to the University of Georgia extension office.

Lawton Pearson, a partner at Pearson Farms in Crawford County, said he is worried about the impact Irma could have on their large pecan crop.

“We are really concerned,” Pearson said. “It’s like watching a punch coming at you in slow motion.”

When Hurricane Frances struck Middle Georgia as a tropical storm in 2004, one Pearson orchard lost 30 percent of its trees. That orchard has only this year returned to what it was before Frances, he said. Statewide, about half the pecan crop was lost because of Frances, and Irma is expected to be worse.

Robert Dickey, owner of Dickey Farms in Crawford County, said he didn’t have many pecan trees but he’s worried about what the storm could do to his peach trees.

“It’s not going to be good for any kind of agriculture,” he said. “The wind and rain is just a bad combination.”

The 2017 peach crop for Middle Georgia peach growers was their worst since 2007. Growers said they lost about 80 percent of their crop due to record low chill hours over the winter.

This story was originally published September 10, 2017 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Irma could hurt a promising pecan harvest, and other crops too."