Hurricane Helene devastated Georgia’s pecan harvest. Farmers are on the brink

By John Towfighi, CNN

(CNN) — Taylor Moses was awake all night when Hurricane Helene landed on her pecan farm in Georgia.

Moses said she and her husband, Arren, knew the hurricane would take a toll on their 800 acres of pecan trees. Yet the devastation this September was astounding. The hurricane destroyed the entirety of their pecan-producing trees.

“It was just a complete loss,” Moses said. “We knew at that time that everything was gone. That was heartbreaking to know that you’ve put in many years of work and it’s just all gone overnight.”

Georgia is the top producer of pecans in the US, according to the Department of Agriculture. The pecan harvest season begins in September — just in time for the holidays, when Americans delight in pecan pie.

When Hurricane Helene crossed into Georgia on September 26, however, the storm’s path destroyed about 36 million pounds of pecans, or one third of the state’s annual crop, according to UGA, decimating an agricultural industry that was already reeling after years of tariffs, increased labor and production costs and low consumer prices.

Hurricane Helene affected at least 48,000 acres of pecan trees, according to UGA. The overall economic impact of Hurricane Helene on Georgia’s entire agriculture industry is estimated at $6.46 billion, according to UGA.

The hurricane’s destruction is a direct blow for farmers who put years of labor into their crops. Pecan trees can take a decade to bear nuts that can turn a profit, and Moses said she and her husband will be out of production for years.

Century-old trees, gone

Hurricane Helene devastated farmers because it destroyed large nut-producing trees, some as old as 100 years old, according to Lenny Wells, a professor of horticulture at UGA who has been a pecan specialist for over 20 years.

Initial estimates show that about 70% of Georgia’s pecan trees aged 50 years and older were completely lost in the hurricane, according to Wells.

Hurricane Helene was also crippling for farmers in Georgia because it hit just six years after Hurricane Michael, Wells said. The 2018 hurricane caused more than $2 billion in overall damage to Georgia’s agricultural industry, according to UGA.

“I thought that Hurricane Michael would be the worst storm I would possibly see in my career as far as its effect on pecans, but this one I think is going to be worse than that,” Wells said.

Pecan trees are a long and arduous investment for farmers because it can take years before they begin producing nuts, Tyler Harper, Georgia’s Commissioner of Agriculture, told CNN.

Harper said that some pecan farmers incurred generational financial losses, losing decades-old trees. “It takes a long time to recover from that and be able to get back that investment,” he said.

Chris Harrell, a chief executive at Southern Roots Nuts Company, a wholesale pecan supplier based in Georgia, told CNN that pecan farmers were already in a tight spot due to increased costs, and the impact from the hurricane just made it worse.

Harrell is part of a co-operative with 16 farmers in Georgia, and he said the effects of Hurricane Helene have been demoralizing. “Five of those farmers lost their entire crop as well as a good percentage of their trees,” he said.

‘Not… a single pecan’

Moses said the damage from Hurricane Helene means she and her husband “will not harvest a single pecan” this season.

Harrell said the Southern Roots co-operative is unsure if they have enough supply to meet demand, and they are projecting short-term price increases due to the depleted pecan crop.

Greg Fonsah, a professor of economics at UGA, told CNN that Hurricane Helene’s impact on the pecan harvest could create a shortage.

Outside of Georgia, there are other pecan-producing states like New Mexico that can supplement consumer demand, according to Brad Rubin, a sector manager at Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute.

Nonetheless, unless long-term pecan supply recovers to meet demand, prices could increase. “I don’t expect large swings near-term, but demand next year or in subsequent years could push prices up,” Rubin said.

Some companies that rely on pecans have already baked in prices the holiday season, according to Laura Shenkar, the chief executive of PKN, a pecan-based milk company. Yet Shenkar said she anticipates price increases in the future as farmers take stock of what crop remains.

“Pecans are very important in things like butter pecan ice cream and your pie,” Shenkar said, noting consumers might see eventual price increases due to the depleted crop.

In Georgia, pecan farmers face a long road to recovery.

At the Moses pecan farm, Taylor Moses said she and her husband have had long, emotional conversations about whether to replant their pecan trees. She said they had hoped to pass trees on to their son, who is three years old.

In the meantime, she said they plan to diversify their farm and incorporate other crops that they can grow on a shorter timeline.

While some farmers might have crop insurance for this year, Wells said, the financial and emotional impact from losing entire trees is another matter.

“They face so many challenges that are out of their control,” Wells said. “And this one certainly is a big one. This is one of the biggest challenges most of them will face in their lifetime.”

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