Agricultural researchers tracked 11 commercial pecan orchards across different regions of Rio Grande do Sul to evaluate crop productivity and the environmental factors affecting fruit quality.
The findings were unveiled on Wednesday, December 11, during the 3rd URPecans Meeting held at the Casa das Artes Foundation in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, as part of the preparatory events for the 3rd National Pecan Culture Meeting (ENAPecan).
The Productive Reference Units for Pecan, known as URPecans, consist of commercial orchards monitored directly by researchers, technicians, and local farmers. This initiative evaluates real-world plant behavior by collecting comprehensive data regarding yield, fruit quality, crop nutrition, soil conditions, and the impact of weather patterns across multiple harvest seasons.
Carlos Roberto Martins, a researcher at Embrapa Temperate Climate, said that the project aims to use field data to guide future scientific studies and address practical challenges faced by pecan growers.
The 11 monitored orchards are spread across regions featuring distinct soil compositions and climatic profiles, allowing researchers to compare orchard performance under varied agricultural conditions. Martins said that this environmental diversity yields practical insights that farmers can apply to tailor cultivation practices to their specific properties.
The ongoing monitoring also highlights significant yield fluctuations between harvests driven largely by meteorological shifts. Tracking the orchards continuously allows specialists to observe plant resilience during favorable periods as well as severe weather events, measuring the direct consequences of climate adversity on nut quality.
The meeting’s agenda featured discussions analyzing agroclimatic conditions from recent seasons alongside projections for the upcoming harvest. Participants also attended panel sessions covering soil management, plant nutrition, fruit drop phenomena, and lipid profile variations among different pecan cultivars.
Attendees also received the newly released Manual of Good Pecan Production Practices, which supplies technical guidelines aimed at optimizing crop cultivation.
The 3rd URPecans Meeting served as a lead-in event for the 3rd ENAPecan, which took place at the Casa das Artes Foundation in Bento Gonçalves.
Co-organizers include Pecantelli, the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS) Bento Gonçalves Campus, and the State Secretariat for Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production, and Irrigation (Seapi) via the State Program for the Development of Pecaniculture (Pró-Pecã), with additional institutional backing from Sebrae and Senac.
