The 2018 Pecan Harvest Season is getting underway in parts of Texas and Georgia with the Pawnee pecan variety, and so far, growers say the crop looks great.

The Pawnee pecan variety is a popular early season variety pecan grown in the southern US mainly in Georgia, Texas and Alabama. Several pecan growers in Texas and Georgia plan to begin harvest this week of Pawnee, however the onset of heavy rain may prevent those plans to harvest in some areas. While rain has been a factor, a more pressing issue in the southeast is the looming threat of hurricane Florence which is now predicted to make land fall on the coast of North and South Carolina on Thursday of this week. The storm was upgraded to a category 4 hurricane earlier this weekend and is now predicted to make land fall Thursday night just north of Charleston South Carolina. While North and South Carolina do not produce large quantities of pecans in the overall National supply, their production is still significant and of course is very significant to the pecan growers in those states. While the NASS does not give data on production in those states it is estimated to be around 3 million pounds (+/-) of production based on industry estimates and 2008 NASS data. The overall 2018 pecan harvest is still a few weeks away, but with the Pawnee variety beginning to open pecan growers with those varieties are beginning to shake the trees and get the harvest to market as soon as possible. The Pawnee is a favorite among retailers looking to get the first pecans of the season in store early. The Pawnee is also exported to the China market however with the current tariff situation it is unlikely that China will be able to compete with the local retail market for the Pawnee pecan this early in the season.