How Shady Grove Pecan Orchards Stemmed from a Longtime Family Dream
For decades, Billy Jeter dreamed that one day, along with his family, he would plant a grove and grow his own pecans. Unsurprising, maybe, since the Jeter family’s farming heritage in Arkansas dates four generations. (Their extended family still farms cotton, corn, wheat, and soybeans in Jefferson County.) But pecans in particular held a special place in Jeter’s heart. “Where we’re from, there were these old pecan trees, and it was nostalgic for families to sit around at the holidays, crack pecans, and eat them,” says Anna Jeter Lester, Billy’s daughter. “People would get them as gifts and put them in desserts.”
In 2020, Billy Jeter purchased a grove in their hometown of Wabbaseka and got cracking. Today, the family runs four orchards, roughly 65 acres in both Scott and Wabbaseka. “It’s just something my dad always wanted to start,” Anna says. “So we started it all from the ground up.” It’s an ideal blend of backgrounds for Anna, who studied business and agriculture at the University of Arkansas. She and her dad run a financial services firm in Little Rock by day. But during time off, they head to the groves. “I love being with my family and figuring it all out, and enjoy the time we get to spend together during harvest,” she says.
Now a full family passion—Anna’s mother, husband, brother, and sister-in-law all participate in the process—the farm has grown into a busy wholesale and online consumer business. “People are motivated to buy local and know where their food comes from,” she says. “Aside from it being fun to satisfy our family’s farming roots, pecans are nutritious, and people love them. We are really proud of them.”
But it’s not all family barbecues and fun. Turns out, growing pecans is tough work. “It took a lot of trial and error, and we learned as we went,” Anna says. “It was, let’s just say, not as simple as we thought it would be.” They relied heavily on research groups, other area farmers, and the University of Arkansas’s Cooperative Extension Service for guidance. Early on, the Jeters learned that irrigation was critical. “The trees have to have a ton of water,” she says. “We learned that the hard way, especially with the droughts here.” Thankfully, high-tech equipment helps. They installed underground water sensors connected to a smartphone app that reads and reports soil moisture readings. “That way, we don’t have to dig a hole to see how dry it is,” she says. They also had to learn how to clean the orchards and look for pests—the pecan weevil, squirrels, and crows can all wreak havoc—prune young trees and lots more. “It was a lot of learning on the fly,” Anna says.
Harvest, which runs from October to the first part of December, requires a complicated series of steps. First, they attach a pecan shaker implement to a tractor. “Two clamps gently shake the tree, and then all the pecans fall to the ground, but you have to be careful because it can damage your trees,” Anna says.
A different implement goes behind another tractor and picks up the fallen pecans. “It’s like a golf ball picker-upper,” she says. The pecans then go to a sorter, who puts them on a conveyor belt, and the family sorts them by hand and places them in bags. Finally, they go to another machine to crack. The family will harvest between 10,000 and 12,000 pounds of pecans this season. “It’s not instant gratification, but we just really enjoy it as a family,” says Anna, who has a young daughter and a nephew. “We’d like to leave it to the next generation.”
At Home In Arkansas November 2024
Story: Virginia Brown | Photography: Rett Peek