By Karn Dhingra
Texas pecan growers are looking at an above-average crop and are hoping price improvement will follow.
Expectations are that Texas’ 2026 pecan season will produce modestly larger yields than last year, but that disease, extreme dry and hot weather in August could negatively impact nut kernel fill, said Monte Nesbitt, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service pecan specialist and associate professor in the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences, Bryan-College Station.
Texas growers did not issue an official forecast at their July conference, but the Tri-State Pecan Growers Association estimate put Texas production near 42 million pounds, Nesbitt said.
Production forecast rises, prices firm
Nesbitt estimated Texas’ overall yield at around 39 million pounds, up modestly from last year’s 32 million pounds.
Wholesale prices were better at times for the 2025 crop compared to 2023 and 2024, with some spring lots topping $2 a pound and approaching $3 a pound in the first quarter of 2026, Nesbitt said.
How the market opens for the 2026 crop depends on a number of moving parts. The volume of the early harvest realized by growers in Georgia, Louisiana and East Texas, as well as the quality of pecan kernels in those lots, will influence price points for the fall and early winter, he added.
Source : tamu.edu