Burgen Equipment Manufacturers in Northern Mexico have been building pecan cleaning equipment for three generations, and innovation is nothing new to them. With their silo style dryers, they have been able to reduce drying time and cost for in-shell pecans. But it’s their new mobile cleaning plant that is turning heads in the pecan industry. Burgen Industries has reduced the amount of labor needed for pecan farmers to clean their own pecans. We caught up with Burgen Industries at the Western Pecan Growers meeting last week to discuss their new “Field Pre Cleaner” and how its changing how pecan farmers operate. “We have a grower in Texas who harvest 400 acres and cleans his own pecans without adding any labor. He dumps his dump cart directly into our pre-cleaner in the orchard; when the pecans arrive at the cleaning plant, the pecans pass through an optical sorter and they are done, unless they need to dry. With the right optical sorter he doesn’t need a crew at the [pecan] cleaning table.” Burgen says they have been receiving good feedback on the pre-cleaner.