More in Orchard Crops

After watching a booming market in China and strong sales here at home raise prices to record highs for two previous crops, Western pecan growers have been dismayed to see in-shell price offerings for their 2012 crop tumble as much 40 percent and more below year-earlier levels....More

Southerners who have been anxiously awaiting a peach tree that will produce in warmer climates – just chill....More

In spite of concerns over an ongoing Asian citrus psyllid quarantine and another year of drought conditions across South Texas, Texas citrus harvest continues at a brisk pace across the Rio Grande Valley with positive early reports of a good harvest especially for Texas grapefruit....More

With the holidays closing in and pecan harvest well underway in most pecan producing states, USDA and the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC) are predicting a good year for the U.S. pecan industry. Export demand remains high while domestic consumption shows signs of growth as more consumers turn to the nut as a high value health food....More

Times have changed in Texas. From migrant farm workers that flooded the Rio Grande Valley to aid in the harvest of the state’s fertile citrus groves and vegetable crops each year to Mexican ranch hands who, in some cases, have made a career out of working for the same rancher over the course of a generation mending fences, branding cows and participating in annual cattle roundups, cross-border workers have been an integrated and important part of the state’s farming and ranching industry past and present....More

Despite the drought, the state’s pecan harvest will be exceptionally large this year, a predicted 65 million pounds, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. On an average year, the Texas crop is between 50 million and 55 million pounds, says Dr. Larry Stein, AgriLife Extension horticulture specialist in Uvalde who works mainly with pecans, fruits, grapes and vegetable crops....More

Deep into the pecan crop year, Extension specialists in both New Mexico and Texas are predicting a good yield in 2012 with most orchards across the Southwest reporting heavy nut loads on trees that are in relatively good health....More

The 58,000-pound mechanical harvesters pounding through groves outside Immokalee this spring gave a good look at the citrus industry’s possible future....More

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, the independent plant science research organization, says the decision window has passed for growers in the 14 pecan-producing states to spray for the first wave of pecan nut casebearer (PNC) moths this year....More

After a stressful drought year for Texas pecan growers, 2012 is shaping up to be a promising year with orchards across the state showing positive signs of healthy trees and early indications of positive nut development....More