Austin County had 18 pecan entries move from the county show to the East Regional Pecan Show for the 2024 crop year. Entries in the East Region al Pecan Show, those coming through county pecan shows and by at-large process, were judged Feb. 4 at TAMU HortTREC fa -
cility. There were 136 entries, in - cluding 33 named varieties of im -
proved pecans, variety seedlings, and natives entered by 44 differ - ent growers or organizations in 14 counties. The judges for the show were members of the USDA-ARS Pe -
can Breeding & Genetics Lab, College Station, including Dr.
Xinwang Wang, Keith Kubenka,
Braden Tondre, Elin Swank, and Jared McLaurin. Commercial Division Cham - pions were Lloyd and Con - nie Boedeker, DeWitt County (Grand-Wichita cultivar), Robert Schuetze, Milam County (Re - serve-Forkert cultivar) Classic & New Division Champions were Fritz Pecan Farm, Washington County (Grand-Lakota cultivar), Kernell Moritz, Victoria County (Re - serve-Brake cultivar) Native Division Champions were Luedeker Farm, Austin County (Grand), Andrew Kutac, Fayette County (Reserve) Judging was held on Feb. 16 in College Station. Judges for this event were Dr. Xinwang Wang and Dr. Angelyn Hilton, USDA Pecan Genetics.
Those placing from Austin County were:
Native Champion Luedeker Farms
First Place Mahan Industry Methodist Church Second Place Prilop Lois Steele
First Place Success Industry Methodist Church Third Place Schley Industry Methodist Church First Place Lightest Pecan Ben Underwood, 113 pecans to make 1lb. 1st Place Natives Lu -
edeker Farms First Place Past State Cham - pion Lois Steele (2010 Champ)
These seven will move on to the State show with results in July.
If you have any questions, please contact the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent Stacie Villarreal at 979-865-2072.
