The 59th annual Texas Pecan Short Course will be held Jan. 23-26 at the Texas A&M University Horticulture Teaching Research and Extension Center, 3199 County Road 269 East, about 9 miles west of Texas A&M University, College Station.

A bright yellow container comprised of multiple bins holds harvested Texas pecans
The 2023 Pecan Short Course will be Jan.. 23-26; registration is now open. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Laura McKenzie)

The short course will be from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.

Registration is now open, but seating is limited. Cost is $300, and participants must preregister at https://tx.ag/2023PecanShortCourse. Lunch will be provided each day and participants should wear clothing and footwear suitable to outdoor activities in Texas during the winter.

“The Texas Pecan Short Course will guide prospective pecan growers through the planning, development, business considerations, and annual crop production facets of commercial pecan production,” said Monte Nesbitt, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist in horticulture, Bryan-College Station, and event coordinator.

“This course is known and respected throughout the pecan industry as a foundational training course for new pecan growers,” he said. “The event draws people from across the U.S. as well as internationally.”

Classroom and hands-on learning

The four-day course will encompass both classroom learning and hands-on demonstrations. Nesbitt and other experts from the Texas A&M Department of Horticultural Sciences will teach the course.

Demonstrations will take place nearby at the Texas A&M University Pecan Orchard, a research and teaching pecan orchard covering 56 acres with over 1,500 trees.

Demonstrations will include:

  • Harvest equipment.
  • Spray equipment.
  • Tree planting.
  • Training, pruning and grafting.