Pecan trees on I-10

[Harrington, Kyle Gregory - (kgharrington)]

On top of Avik's response. Pecans are a very fragile tree in general and the machines that shake the pecans loose during the two harvests of the year are quite vigorous resulting in a fair amount downed branches. When these are cleaned up, they pile them up and when the piles get high and numerous enough they'll do controlled burns on them. Some years the fires are quite large and extend a couple miles along side I-10.

Kyle

Kyle Harrington
Associate in Extension
Field Crops IPM
Urban Ag/ Beginner Farmer
The University of Arizona
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension
PhD Student Entomology and Insect Science
Office: (602) 827-8200
Cell: (480) 695-0342
________________________________
From: Anr-faculty <anr-faculty-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> on behalf of Mukherjee, Avik - (avikm) <avikm at arizona.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 2:21:39 PM
To: Diaz, Duarte - (duartediaz) <duartediaz at arizona.edu>; anr-faculty at list.cals.arizona.edu <anr-faculty at list.cals.arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: Pecan trees on I-10


Hi Duarte,



The main reason behind this is that the particular pecan variety (the trees were ~50 years old) had become significantly less productive, resulting in much lower profit margins for the farm. Given these declining returns, Adam, the owner of the pecan farm, decided to remove them and sell the north side (~100 acres) of the farm, thereby saving water for the remaining productive acreage.



Hope it helps.



Best,

Avik





[h98+MyJH01gQAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==]

Avik Mukherjee, Ph.D.
Assistant Extension Agent, Agronomy



Pinal County Cooperative Extension | The University of Arizona
820 E Cottonwood Ln Building C | Casa Grande, AZ 85122



Office: (520)836-5221|Cell: (435)374-2941
Email: avikm at arizona.edu<mailto:avikm at arizona.edu>

https://www.arizona.edu/purpose-mission-values





From: Anr-faculty <anr-faculty-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> on behalf of Diaz, Duarte - (duartediaz) <duartediaz at arizona.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 1:57 PM
To: anr-faculty at list.cals.arizona.edu <anr-faculty at list.cals.arizona.edu>
Subject: Pecan trees on I-10

Dear colleagues,



Does anyone have any insight on why a large portion of the Pecan trees on the operation off of I-10 just north of Picacho (I think the company is Daybreak Pecans) have been cut and burned down. Looks like all the trees from the east side are already down and I saw some burning this week on the west side. Oddly, enough I am getting several inquiries about it and was hoping some of you had insight. Trying to take the university to the people is hard, especially when they ask about stuff you don't know much about.



Sincerely,



Duarte



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