If you're looking for locally-grown pecans, you can find them in eastern and central Arizona. Farmers are looking forward to a good harvest this year.
Arizona was the fourth largest producer of pecans in the nation last year, selling 24 million pounds of the nut.
Early reports estimate the size of this year's crop nationwide will be even more fruitful than last year.
Arizona Pecan Growers Association President Harold Payne said pecan trees grow in cycles, and this crop looks to be an abundant one.
"We call it an on-year and an off-year. Some farms are more in an off-year, they're in different cycles, but overall the crop in Arizona is expected to be a good crop because most of the trees are in an on-year," Payne said.
The trees produce more pecans one year, then less the next, in a cycle.
More local farmers are turning toward the tree as prices and demand stay high.
Pecans grow best in central and eastern Arizona, where there are enough cold days for the tree.
Payne said while national numbers show a smaller-than-expected amount, Arizona's pecan acres are holding steady.
"It's a crop that does well here," he said. "It's a crop that the market is increasing, so there is more demand for it, and there are more people that are looking for alternative crops to the traditional field crops of cotton and wheat and alfalfa."
Arizona's pecans are harvested in November.
