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Ingredients in Focus is Food Dive’s bite-sized column that highlights exciting developments. In ingredients sector.
While Hurricane Helen wreaked havoc on many crops in the Southeast, pecans, one of Georgia’s most beloved and iconic exports, were hit especially hard.
But this isn’t the first time recent hurricanes have destroyed crops. Over the past 50 years, 70% of pecan trees have been lost in Georgia, which has had a major impact on farmers.
It takes 20 to 25 years for a pecan tree to reach its maximum production potential. Some experts predicted Helen. According to the Augusta Chronicle, about a third of Georgia’s pecan production area was affected. The newspaper estimated that 75% of this year’s crops, or more than 36 million pounds, were lost in storm-affected areas.
In the wake of this destructionAccording to Laura Shenkar, founder and CEO of pecan milk brand PKN, farmers and food manufacturers need to prepare for the next disaster by making their supply chains as resilient as possible.
Farmers throughout Georgia and Alabama depend on pecan trees for their livelihood.
“So many people have lost their crops and now their lives because of the storm.” Shenkar added. “The place is closed and I don’t think it will be reopening anytime soon.”
Pecans are one of the only tree nuts native to American soil. They experienced weather conditions much worse than Hurricane Helen, she said.
Shenkar said pecan growers can look at almonds as a blueprint for what could happen in the supply chain of a particular ingredient in a particular region.
“At one time, all almond crops were pretty much confined to one state and were very heavily regulated in California. This has enabled us to have a uniform and predictable supply of product and eliminated a lot of waste,” said Shenkar.
One way PKN builds resilience to disasters is through partnerships and cooperatives that provide direct connections to consumers and farmers.
One of our partners, Southern Roots, is a wholesale supplier of both shelled and shelled pecans. Many of the farms within grower-owned cooperatives span multiple generations. Consumers feel their PKN milk purchases are making an impact, Shenkar said.
The partnership provides consumers with transparency into how their crops are performing. Consumers can support growers when they see them struggling.
Pecans also have sustainability properties that have not yet been fully explored, including the potential to be upcycled to create new products.
“You can turn discarded pecan cases, no matter how small, into pecan milk,” Shenkar said.
Compared to other nut milks on the market, pecan is virtually undeveloped. This means that very few companies have utilized Teanut’s full potential.
There are only a few companies that focus on pecan milk, such as PKN, Pecana and Nuthatch, while larger plant-based companies, such as Elmhurst 1925, include it in their broader portfolios.
To prepare for what’s to come, Shenkar said, it’s essential for companies to work with farmers and peelers to create products that will be viable in 20 to 30 years.
