Bumper pecan crop = need for more workers
Nevada Daily Mail
After a long summer, full of rain and floods, it paid off in the end for area pecan growers.
Stephon Krohn, a worker at Wilson Pecans, said that pecan crops are "fantastic," this year.
With this year's harvest, described as a bumper crop, they have been using five harvesters and a cleaning plant run by four people.
Although Wilson Pecans is a family-owned business, and Krohn is the fourth generation of the family, he said he just started using the cleaning plant last year.
Krohn noted that when the pecans are picked, the equipment operates like a vacuum that sucks them up.
"It picks up the pecans, but sticks and dirt are also sucked into it. The cleaning plant is used to clean out all of the sticks and dirt that aren't supposed to be there," he said.
Compared to past years, recent crops have been very promising. "Last year was close to one of the best crops we had because the pecans were such great quality," said Krohn.
This harvest has been even better.
"This year, at least 47 to 48 percent shell out, which is at least 50 percent more than last year."
Krohn added they are looking to hire 20 more people to have more help with the pecans because of the large harvest.
"We could use their trucks and wagons, we could work for more hours, and if we had more people, we could get the job done quicker."