The newly formed pecan marketing order should increase interest in growing the crop. Leaders at the annual California pecan meeting said it will get the proven healthy information about the nut in front of consumers.
Pecan Marketing Order Increases Interest
There’s a lot going on in California’s pecan industry. The recent California pecan conference had good turnout from growers, which president of the California Pecan Grower’s Association Mark Hendrixson says is encouraging. “It’s very encouraging. We had a really nice venue here at Linwood Nursery and had fantastic turnout.”
Hendrixson
Hendrixson says right now there’s just a small group of growers in California. However, the federal government recently approved a federal marketing order for the industry, and Hendrixson says that could boost interest in the crop. “There is interest in growing pecans and planting more pecans with the adoption of the federal marketing order by the growers across the country,” Hendrixson says. “There’s opportunities coming for pecans to be marketed and sold and for us to actually be able to advertise and market the health benefits that have already been established for people.”
Hendrixson says there’s already been substantial research on the health benefits of pecans, but due to the lack of the marketing order, the pecan industry hasn’t had the opportunity to market to the public the way other industries do. “I had someone tell me, not too long ago, that they would buy more pecans if they were as healthy as an almond,” Hendrixson says. “What do you say to that? The research is there. Pecans are as healthy as an almond and walnut, even more so. So obviously we need to get that message out more, and the tool to be able to do that for the industry is through the federal marketing order.”