King Ranch Acquires Southwest Nut

King Ranch Inc. announced on Oct. 6 that it has acquired the name and substantially all of the assets of Southwest Nut Co. The newly acquired assets include a pecan processing and shelling plant and related equipment in Fabens, Texas and substantially all of the equipment in a second plant located in Juarez, Mexico. Robert...

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Odds and Ends

Harvest began in Georgia in early October with ‘Pawnees’, moving on to ‘Creek’ and ‘Elliott’ around mid month. ‘Stuarts’ and ‘Desirables’ as well as other varieties followed in the latter half of the month. Because of my lead time in writing this, I cannot give you much in the way of current quality or price...

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Pippin Pecan Farm Diversifies Its Harvest

While pecan operations are a familiar sight throughout South Georgia, Trey Pippin’s farm near Arlington, Georgia has a unique feature that sets it apart from the others — a one-acre plot covered with 836 solar panels that are generating the equivalent of 310,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually. It is the largest privately-owned commercial solar...

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Behavior of Salmonella on High-Moisture Pecans

All microorganisms require water and other nutrients to grow. In the absence of one or both, microbial cells will die or go into a dormant, non-reproductive state. Molds generally require less moisture to grow than do bacteria. Hence the need to reduce the moisture content of in-shell pecan kernels as well as shelled nutmeats to...

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Bergeron Family Celebrates 100 Years In Shelling Business

Three generations and millions and millions of pecans later, Bergeron’s Pecans of New Roads, Louisiana, celebrated on Sept. 5 the 100th anniversary of the family-owned and operated shelling business. Hundreds of friends and community members filled False River Country Club for the occasion, including Louisiana State Rep. Major Thibaut and Sheriff Bud Torres as wells Louisiana...

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Sorting Through the Cull Pile

Pecan cleaners can be psychologically depressing machines. With air-legs, blowers and conveyors, they can create large piles of light weight and defective nuts as the harvested crop passes through them. Oh sure, they work great, and technological advances have given growers and accumulators better capability to sort out defective nuts and improve the quality of...

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