ENGLAND — Whether it’s because of skyrocketing Chinese demand or a “pecan war” here spawned by wildgrove harvesters, the tree nut is bringing record prices.
For Arkansas pecan farmers, it’s been a huge year — a projected 136 percent increase over last year — while production nationwide is expected to be down 14 percent.
Those figures do not include wild-grove production, which is not measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Robert Carruthers, who has a 160-acre orchard near Morrilton, said he’s never seen prices this high.
His first truckload this year, purchased by a buyer in Madill, Okla., went for $3.57 a pound, the most he’s ever gotten.
“The price was twice as high than it normally should be and I had a big crop,” Carruthers said.
Production this year in the U.S. is expected to be 252 million pounds, down 14 percent from 293.7 million pounds last year, U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in October, the most recent figures available.
In Arkansas, production was expected to be up 136 percent, to 2.6 million pounds from 1.1 million last year, making the state the 10th-largest grower of pecans, the USDA said.
A pound of pecans in 2010 breached the $2 mark for the first time in 30 years at an average of $2.30, rising from $1.43 in 2009 and $1.34 in 2008, according to the USDA, which does not yet have figures for 2011.
On top of the tighter U.S. supply, China has been increasing its pecan imports every year since 2007, when worldwide production of walnuts was down, which opened wider the door for pecans in the world’s most-populous nation.
In 2005, Chinese pecan buyers bought 1 percent of the 280 million pounds of U.S. pecans. By 2009, the United States exported 28 percent of its pecans to China.
China is planting pecan trees, but it takes them 18 to 20 years to be profitable. A tree can produce as much as 600 pounds a year, said Randy Hardin, a Grady-based pecan farmer who also harvests for others.
Twenty percent to 30 percent of pecans are harvested from wild groves scattered from Georgia to New Mexico and California, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
The high price this year has led to an increase of wildgrove harvesters in Arkansas and elsewhere. And with that expansion, pecan thefts are on the rise in Georgia, the largest pecan-producing state, The New York Times reported last week.
Likewise, police reports indicate that thefts are up in central Arkansas.
In England, which is about a 30-minute drive south of Little Rock, two competing buyers are engaged in what one observer called a “pecan war” this year, Hardin said.
One buyer, Paul Ewing, who owns a hardware store in England, said he has purchased 115,000 pounds since he left Dermott-based Justice Nut Co. after a pricing dispute. Ewing and Justice act as middlemen between wild-grove harvesters and wholesale buyers. Farmers sell directly to wholesalers.
Ewing said that he was buying the best pecans at about $1.20 a pound, but that it got up to $1.50 a pound earlier this month before dropping back to about $1.20 on Wednesday.
Ewing said a wholesaler in Mississippi is backing him against Justice Nut. Ewing’s wholesaler, whom he wouldn’t identify, plans to sell most of the pecans to China, he said.
Ronald Justice, who owns Justice Nut, did not return several calls for this article.
On Wednesday, there were about 30 people, primarily wild-grove harvesters, in line to sell their nuts to Justice’s buying depot in England. At Ewing’s shop, there was a steady stream of sellers, but not as many as at Justice.
A North Little Rock man, Terrell Walton, said he took pecans to Ewing several times this year and wanted to remain loyal.
“It’s a little extra money around Christmas,” Walton said. “I have a couple of pecan trees in my backyard and go out there every couple of days and pick as many as I can.”
On Wednesday, Walton got slightly more than $100 for his load.
In the early afternoon Wednesday, more than 20 people could be seen walking up and down Arkansas 161 south of Scott, scooping up from the roadside bagfuls of pecans from groves that line the highway. Several people refused to comment for this article, citing concerns that they might be on private property.
Gathering pecans from the side of the road is legal, as long as people stay within about 20 feet of the highway and don’t hop fences or ditches lining the road, according to Chief Deputy Dean White of the Lonoke County sheriff’s office.
“Pecans in the road are fair game, but cross a fence or go outside the road right of way ... and you’re stealing someone’s property,” said White, who owns a pecan orchard. The sheriff’s office has seen an increase in the number of pecan theft reports this year. “When the prices went through the roof, people started sneaking onto private property to get them,” White said.
Carruthers said a law officer caught some interlopers in his orchard one night, but Carruthers chose not to press charges.
More than once, Hardin said someone broke into his shop in Grady to steal pecans. That stopped when a man was arrested and charged with burglary and theft.
“We got him on camera [the first two times] and when he came back the third time we saw his car and caught him,” Hardin said. “Since we had his picture we were able to have him arrested.”
There have also been at least four reports with the Pulaski County sheriff’s office of people trespassing to get pecans.
Still, despite the thefts and bickering, England Mayor Danny Maynard said the pecan war has been good for the town of about 3,000.
“Those pecan buyers have had lines around the corner everyday for the past month,” Maynard said. “On top of that, a lot of the money is being spent in the city.”
He also noted that many of the people picking the pecans are able to help pay for Christmas with the proceeds.
“There are some who really need that money bad to put groceries on the table,” he said. “Especially around the Christmas season.”
Business, Pages 65 on 12/25/2011