Pecan is an important crop in the Southern Great Plains. Recent USDA crop statistics report 175,542 acres of pecans in Texas and 141,765 acres in Oklahoma, with the majority of the acreage consisting of native pecans. Spurred on by record prices received by growers in 2010 due to increased global demand for pecans, many new commercial, improved cultivar orchards are being established and neglected orchards are being renovated.
Pecan Production 101
Estimated read time:
Steve Upson formerly served as a senior horticulture consultant and worked at Noble Research Institute since 1988. He received a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree in horticulture from Kansas State University. Before joining Noble, he served as a county and area Extension horticulture specialist with the Oklahoma State University Extension service and managed a commercial market garden operation east of Kansas City, Missouri. His areas of interest include raised bed and container gardening, commercial market gardening, and high tunnel (hoop house) construction and management.
Charles Rohla, Ph.D., serves as the manager of pecan systems. He oversees pecan research, consultation and operations. He joined Noble in 2006. He is actively involved with several state and national pecan and agriculture organizations. He has a bachelor’s degree in animal science, a master’s degree in agricultural education and a Ph.D. in crop science from Oklahoma State University. He owns a farm where he produces hay, pecans, show horses, cattle and pigs. He can be found on LinkedIn.
James Locke is the former planned consultation manager and a senior soils and crops consultant. He can be found on LinkedIn.
