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pecan theft is up this year!
FORT VALLEY, Ga. — To an enterprising thief, or even a casual dabbler in crime, the fallen pecans that cover thousands of acres of unpatrolled Georgia nut orchards might as well be a carpet of nickels.
Scoop up a pound — 30 nuts or so — and it can be cashed in for as much as $1.50 at the local buying station. A more organized criminal might cut a hole in a fence at a nut-cleaning plant and drive away with a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of top-quality pecans.
Nut theft has long been a reality here in the nation’s pecan belt. It has become such a way of life that a south Georgia rapper, Hawkdogg, even has a song about it: “Crank Dat Pecan.” But this season, which began in October and ends in January, the thefts appear to be at record levels, growers and the police say.
“We’ve had people go in there stealing pecans just like they’re going to a hardware store and taking a hammer and nails,” said Duke Lane, owner of Lane’s Southern Orchards and president of the Georgia Pecan Growers Association.
At least 50 people have been caught on his 2,600-acre orchard this year, Mr. Lane said.
“If somebody’s hungry and they want a handful of nuts, that’s one thing,” he said. “But this is different. These guys have whole sacks.”
To protect themselves, growers have installed security cameras. But since most thefts happen at night, it’s hard to identify the culprits. The growers have hired security guards and added fences topped with barbed wire. But the orchards are too large to patrol effectively, and thieves cut through the chain link almost as soon as it goes up.
Still, pecan thieves are being caught in numbers that are nearly double what they were in 2010.
In Peach County, about a two-hour drive south from Atlanta, more than 30 arrests have been made this season, said Capt. Kenny M. Cameron of the sheriff’s office. One person was caught stealing 1,400 pounds of the nuts.
Farther south, in Mitchell County, there have been 37 reports of pecan thefts in the last two months, resulting in 16 arrests. Four were for felonies, said Joseph K. Mulholland, the district attorney for a five-county region that includes some of Georgia’s top pecan orchards.
The price of pecans is high this season, making them particularly lucrative for growers and thieves alike.
“Right now, you’re basically picking money off the ground,” Mr. Mulholland said.
Extreme drought and heat have hurt pecan production for Georgia’s biggest competitor, Texas, where the crop could be down by as much as 40 percent, according to agricultural extension reports.
Meanwhile, demand for pecans in China and other countries has been growing. Sixty-five percent of the crop from Georgia’s biggest pecan grower goes overseas. Premium growers can get a healthy $3 a pound these days.
That means prices are up in the casual “yard nut” market, too. In rural Georgia, selling pecans that have fallen from the trees in one’s yard is a country version of returning cans and bottles for instant cash.
Nut processors have drive-up buying stations in several farming communities, and it is nearly impossible to tell a bag of legitimate yard nuts from a stolen one. Thieves also set up roadside stands or sell to people who act as middlemen, gathering small amounts until they have enough to head to the broker.
“Somebody’s going to buy that nut no questions asked,” said Charles Evans, the state’s largest pecan grower, who goes by the nickname Chop. Mr. Evans’s crews will process more than seven million pounds of nuts this season. He is not sure how much he will lose to theft, but estimates it will be tens of thousands of pounds.
Certainly, thieves in Georgia steal all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but pecans are a particularly easy target. Growers use machines to shake pecans off trees, and usually leave them on the ground for a few days before they are mechanically scooped up. And plenty fall from the trees on their own..
And unlike a delicate, fast-ripening peach, a pecan can be stored until a buyer is found. “With a peach, it’s like you’re holding a melting ice cube and trying to unload it,” Mr. Evans said.
A troubled economy is also contributing to the high rate of pecan theft, said Deputy Tim Hardy of the Peach County sheriff’s office. “People are trying to make a few extra bucks for the holidays or to make ends meet,” he said. As a result, law enforcement officials are making more vigorous use of a Georgia law that makes it a felony to steal more than $500 worth of agricultural products.
As a scare tactic, officers are increasingly charging pecan thieves with burglary instead of trespassing, Mr. Mulholland, the district attorney, said.
In Peach County Magistrate Court last week, four pecan cases were on the docket. They all involved criminal trespassing charges, which means the defendants had been caught with small amounts.
One person did not appear, and the other three were let off with warnings. They had been picking nuts up along the side of the road and outside fenced orchards with no signs warning them off.
Two of the defendants, Jeanette Ogle and Randall Sorrow Jr., both in their 20s and engaged to be married, said they had been collecting nuts so Ms. Ogle’s mother could make holiday pies. When the farmer caught them, the couple offered to give back their bucket of pecans. Instead, he called the sheriff.
They learned their lesson: it is a rare pecan in this part of the country that does not belong to someone else.
And they have definitely changed their dessert plans for the holiday. “I think we’re going to go for a pumpkin pie,” Ms. Ogle said. “I don’t want to see another pecan right now.”
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