USDA Seeks Nominees for the American Pecan Council

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominees for the American Pecan Council to fill seats for seven members and seven alternates for four-year terms, beginning Oct. 1, 2026, and ending Sept. 30, 2030. Nominations will be accepted by mail and nomination forms must be submitted to the council by March 31, 2026.

The council is seeking nominees for growers and shellers for the following areas:

GROWERS

• Western Region (Arizona, California, New Mexico) - one member and one alternate (large grower)
• Central Region (Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas) - one member and one alternate (large grower)
• Eastern Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina) - two members and two alternates (large and small growers, respectively)

SHELLERS

• Western Region (Arizona, California, New Mexico) - one member and one alternate (small sheller)
• Central Region (Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas) - one member and one alternate (small sheller)
• Eastern Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina) - one member and one alternate (small sheller)

For nomination information, contact the American Pecan Council Director of Operations Emma Garner at (817) 916-0020 or [email protected] or contact USDA Marketing Specialist Jennie Varela at (863) 324-3375 or [email protected].
To qualify as a grower member, nominees must be engaged within the production area in a proprietary capacity in the production of pecans and produce a minimum of 50,000 pounds of inshell pecans during a representative period (average of four years) or own a minimum of 30 pecan acres. Nominees for large grower seats must have at least 176 pecan acres. Nominees for the small grower seat must have fewer than 176 acres. To qualify as a sheller member, nominees must be a person who converts inshell pecans to shelled pecans and sells the output in all markets in the stream of commerce, both within and outside of the production area. Nominees for the small sheller seat must handle fewer than 12.5 million pounds of inshell pecans.

The council is comprised of 17 members. Nine members represent growers, six members represent shellers, one member represents accumulators, and one serves as a public member. More information about the committee is available on the American Pecan Council webpage on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website.

Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, marketing orders are industry-driven programs that help producers and handlers achieve marketing success by using their own funds to design and execute programs that they would not be able to do individually. AMS provides oversight to fruit, vegetable, and specialty crops marketing orders and agreements to help ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.

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