Farms.com Home   News

USDA Sets Public Hearing For Pecan Marketing Order In Tifton

Pecan growers and other industry stakeholders, including handlers and shellers, will have a chance in July to offer testimony regarding the proposed federal marketing order for pecans that the American Pecan Board is working to implement. The USDA has announced dates and locations for a series of public hearings to be held in each of the three U.S. pecan-growing regions - Eastern (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North and South Carolina), Central (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas) and Western (New Mexico, Arizona and California).

The Eastern Region hearings will be held July 27-29 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Tifton at 201 Boo Drive. A fourth day of testimony may be held July 30 if enough stakeholders express an interest in testifying. The hearings will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Witnesses are expected to testify regarding the costs, benefits and other potential impacts of the proposed marketing order. Individuals who wish to testify will register on the sign-up sheet on the day of their arrival and should be prepared to speak when the administrative law judge facilitating the hearing calls them. The proposed draft of the marketing order is available for review at www.pecanboard.com.

"I believe that a federal marketing order is needed for the pecan industry to have sustained profitability in the long-term," Garrett Ganas, chairman of the Georgia Farm Bureau Pecan Committee, said. "I'd encourage people who are interested in or concerned about the marketing order to attend one of the three days of hearings the USDA will hold in Tifton."

Hearings will be held in Las Cruces, New Mexico, July 20-21 for the Western Region and on July 23-24 in Dallas, Texas, for the Central Region.

According to the APB proposal, qualified growers would be defined as those producing a minimum of 50,000 pounds of inshell pecans during a representative period (average of four years) or owning a minimum of 30 pecan acres as recognized by the Farm Service Agency.

While qualified growers will be the only segment of the industry to cast votes to determine if they want to implement a marketing order, both qualified growers and shellers would serve on the council that would oversee the order.

If the referendum passes, qualified growers and shellers from each of the three growing regions would nominate their respective peers as potential council members. Small growers and shellers as well as large growers and shellers would be represented on the council. Each region will be represented by three growers and two shellers. After receiving the industry nominations, the Secretary of Agriculture would appoint the council members. The first council would be seated in 2017, and then that council would propose assessment rates.

Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Predicting Weather with the Farmer’s Almanac

Video: Predicting Weather with the Farmer’s Almanac


The Farmers’ Almanac and Old Farmer’s Almanac have been around for centuries. The two journals use secret formulas using climatology, solar science and meteorology to make long-range weather forecasts. For years those working agriculture have turned to the almanacs for answers for insight into upcoming weather conditions.

“Over the decades, centuries even, farmers have put their trust into the almanacs products with their forecasts being one of them,” Steve Hu, professor in the School of Natural Resources department of earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said during the Dec. 13 episode of Seed Speaks. “At least 50 years ago, (these) might have been the only forecasts available to people who wanted to use some information to make a plan or something.”

Modern weather forecasting with technology has only been developed over the past several decades, including the statistical approaches to the seasonal forecasting, Ray Schmitt, president and founder of Salient Predictions, added during the episode.

“With all of the satellite systems we have to monitor the weather, as well as buoys that are monitoring the state of the ocean, there is quite a bit of information now available with a long enough record for us to build comprehensive statistical models,” Schmitt explained.

However, building that trust in these “modern” weather forecasts isn’t easy, which is why many in the agricultural communities continue fall back on the almanacs for weather information even though there are more forecasts available made with more current knowledge of seasonal forecasting.

“Farming communities are still using the Farmers’ Almanac because they have the trust there. The federal government, NOAA the federal agency to issue official weather forecasts, they haven't done enough to build trust among farmers for their predictions,” Hu says. “You have to somehow encourage farmers to put more attention on NOAA’s seasonal predictions and less attention on (almanac) forecasts.”

The wealth of weather data and forecasts available now also give people options of what weather forecast they want to follow or the option to use multiple forecasts. Hu cautions though that this can lead to people favouring the forecast that aligns with their desired goal lor outcome.

“Farmers have to make lots of decisions about ‘Well, what am I going to plant next season? When should I harvest my crop?’ Lots of decisions have to be made and you'd like some help with making those decisions. So, people will look to any sort of guidance,” Schmitt added.

Using new forecast options or platforms for weather forecasts also requires that people learn how to use these new sources, Hu said.