Agricultural News
American Pecans First Commodity in the Country to Establish Both a Federal Marketing Order and a Checkoff Body
Sun, 27 Mar 2022 07:29:19 CDT
Until this past week- the American Pecan Association had not met in person since August of 2019. But the staff and leadership of the Federal Marketing Order did not let the disruptions caused by the Pandemic slow down their efforts to improve awareness about and demand for a nut that is native to North America- the American Pecan.
Alex Ott is the Executive Director of the American Pecan Council and the senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster for the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, Ron Hays, sat down with him as the Council gathered this past week in Dallas. Ott told Hays that a lot of good things had happened while the Pecan Council sat up the infrastruture for the FMO- now five years old- and awareness of Pecans is one of those good things. "2021- for Pecans- it was a good year. We actually increased consumption of pecans."
Ott adds "the biggest challenge we had was that no one knew what a pecan was going into it the start up of the Council- Five years ago when you look at the actual data that comes out and says consumers- only twelve percent know who you are- and then this past year we were up to 42% awareness and the number one nut during the holidays for the first time...when you have a great product, it's not hard to sell."
By most measurements- the first five years of the FMO has been a success. Consumption of pecans have gone up and the first return on investment study for the industry showed an increase of 24 cents for every pound.
The FMO has been approved by growers for another five years- and now pecan growers have decided to take another step and become the very first commodity in the US to have both a Federal Marketing Order and a Checkoff as well.
Why both? The FMO has been remarkably successful for US Pecan growers- but Ott says that producers were frustrated that imported buts- mostly from Mexico- were getting a free ride from the marketing and promotion efforts of the American Pecan Council. The promotion efforts- including the Original Supernut campaign told the story of US Pecans but received no monetary support from imported nuts. So pecan leadership have set up the 22nd Research and Promotion Checkoff Board for US Agriculture- and this new body will operate in addition to the American Pecan Council.
The APPB will be able to assess imported pecans and use those resources with assessments from US growers to develop generic promotion of pecans to American and International consumers. Ott says that the Pecan Council will retain it's ability to market and promote US pecans as a complement to the efforts of the checkoff body.
Ott says that the FMO will continue to have plenty to do and at the board meeting- five areas were laid out as projects going forward for the APC:
Increased attention to grower communication;
Regular issuance of "Pecan Facts" bulletin to constituents;
Working group to deal with increasing the accuracy of APC published data - regular
publication of one-pager to the industry reflecting this data;
Developing a model for a trusted crop estimate; and
Working group to research and develop a quantification method for carbon
sequestration for pecan trees
Listen to Hays and Ott and their conversation about the efforts of the American Pecan Council during it's first five years of life- and how the addition of the checkoff Promotion Board will help take pecan awareness and consumption to the next level- click on the Listen Bar below.
(Editor's note- Federal Marketing Orders dictate that the boards have a "public member" on the board to offer counsel and a point of view from outside of that commodity's circle- Ron Hays has served as first the Alternate Public Member of the American Pecan Council at its inception and now serves as the Public Member of the FMO. His term runs to 2024 and this is a volunteer non paid position. )
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