8 Things Georgians Know About Pecans That Out-of-Staters Get Wrong

Thanksgiving’s just around the corner, and somebody at your table is about to say “pecan” the other way.

Here’s what Georgians know about pecans that out-of-staters miss.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Pecan laws and agriculture rules are subject to change.

1. Top Producer in 2024

Pecan growers in Georgia produced 102 million pounds in 2024, more than any other state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That was about 38.5 percent of the nation’s crop.

New Mexico finished second, at 84.8 million pounds.

If you’d guess Texas first, many out-of-staters would too.

Texas finished fourth, behind Arizona.

Georgia’s lead was much thinner in 2023, when the final figures show it edging New Mexico, 108 million pounds to 107.5 million.

In 2022, Georgia won by a wide margin, 131 million pounds to 77.9 million.

If you want the newest national number, the 2025 crop came in at 284 million pounds, up 7 percent from 2024.

2. Two Pronunciations

Pecans have two pronunciations, and Georgia’s agriculture commissioner said in 2023 that Georgia sells both.

Merriam-Webster lists one version with the stress on the first syllable and others with the stress on the second.

Some out-of-staters assume only one of them is right.

You can say it either way at your Thanksgiving table, and a dictionary backs you up.

3. Roadside Pecans

Pecans that fall from a private tree with branches over a public road stay the owner’s property through harvest season.

That season covers the last three months of the year.

During it, you need the owner’s okay before you scoop pecans off a public road.

That same law bars you from picking pecans off a private tree’s limbs, or making them fall, without the owner’s permission.

A violation is a misdemeanor.

4. Seller Licenses and Labels

A lot of out-of-staters might not think twice about who sold them a bag of pecans.

Pecans you buy in Georgia come under two sets of seller rules, depending on who grew them.

A farmer who sells only pecans they grew is exempt from licensing, grading, and labeling requirements under the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s grower exemption.

Anyone selling pecans somebody else grew needs a license from the department first.

That license stays in force unless it’s revoked, but it isn’t transferable.

Pecans can wear the words New Crop only until a deadline set by department rules.

Sellers can’t use the term to advertise, display, or sell pecans after the month of June that follows the harvest.

Pecans from the fall 2026 harvest can carry the label through June 2027.

If you see New Crop on a bag in July 2027, the label is past its deadline.

5. Stuckey’s Roadside Stand

Pecans sold from a roadside lean-to along Georgia Route 23 in Eastman got Stuckey’s started in the 1930s.

Williamson S. Stuckey Sr. had an especially bountiful harvest one year, and travelers on the road quickly bought out his pecans.

His wife then began selling homemade pecan candies, and by the late 1930s the business was booming.

A rolled pecan candy soon became a top seller.

Many out-of-staters might know Stuckey’s only as a highway stop.

If you’ve ever pulled into a Stuckey’s, you’ve stopped at a chain that started with that lean-to.

Eventually there were 350-plus Stuckey’s stores across the continental United States.

6. Georgia Grands

If pecan halves coming in official sizes is news to you, many out-of-staters would say the same.

Under Georgia Department of Agriculture rules, shelled pecan halves fall into size classes, and the largest, Georgia Grands, takes 200 or fewer halves to the pound.

Jumbo halves take 301 to 350 to the pound, and at the other end of the chart, Extra Small halves take 751 or more.

Small (topper) sits just above Extra Small, at 651 to 750.

Count the halves in a pound of shelled pecans, and you can find the class on the state’s chart.

7. Desirable Variety

If you only know pecans as pecans, a lot of out-of-staters do too.

The University of Georgia’s variety guide says Desirable is the main pecan variety in most commercial orchards in Georgia.

Its large, well-filled nuts bring top price on the market, and it is an excellent sheller that produces many mammoth halves.

Its biggest strength may be consistent, high-quality crops from year to year.

Desirable trees are somewhat slow growing and harder to prune than other varieties.

Its scab rating is a 4, which means poor resistance, and controlling that fungus takes a full season of fungicide protection.

Elliott, by comparison, rates a 1 for excellent scab resistance.

So when you crack a pecan from a commercial orchard, it may well be a Desirable.

8. Helene's Crop Loss

Many out-of-staters might know Hurricane Helene mostly for its damage to homes and roads, not to pecan orchards.

Hurricane Helene damaged Georgia pecan orchards in 2024.

University of Georgia Extension estimated a 75 percent crop loss across the storm-damaged area.

That would put the direct loss to the 2024 crop at just over 36 million pounds.

The damage began in Brooks and Lowndes counties and ran about 260 miles north and northeast.

If you want a sense of scale, the storm-damaged area made up about one-third of Georgia's pecan production area, which a 2019 satellite survey put at 197,250 acres.