The American Pecan Promotion Board (APPB) is deploying a marketing strategy starting this holiday season that is sure to cut through the normal holiday clutter. Competition for media attention is fierce during the holidays. The American Pecan Council (APC) intentionally shifted from health and snacking, which gets limited media coverage during the holiday season, to grab headlines with an out-of-the-box idea. Everyone knows pecans make a killer Thanksgiving pie. Candied, delicious, irresistible, irreplaceable. But we don’t stop at dessert or just one day.

The night before Thanksgiving is in the top five for most pizza sales during the entire year. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, APC intersected an existing cultural conversation with a surprisingly delicious pecan pizza pie consumers wouldn’t expect. Of course, the entire campaign of creating a Pecan Pizza Pie was designed to garner national attention from the media. Furthermore, television commercials touting the various holiday recipes found on the eatpecans.com website and an army of influencers posting to Instagram, Reels, Facebook and Pinterest will solidify pecan’s No. 1 ranking as the top holiday nut.
Once the holidays are behind us, APC will continue to post messages on various social media channels and advertise using television commercials across the U.S. Television commercials will appear on various video streaming platforms in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Dallas, El Paso, Las Cruces, Phoenix and San Diego. Furthermore, the APPB is investing marketing dollars in Mexico to try and build consumption in Mexico. To support these efforts, APPB recently approved a research project to learn more about Mexican consumers and how best to influence nut consumption south of the border.
Nutrition and health research are crucial to amplify the health message for pecans. On APPB, the research committee will meet in the upcoming months to begin ramping up more pecan research. Keep an eye out on eatpecans.com for upcoming committee and Board meeting dates.

APPB Nominations for the Western Region
APPB has nominations for four seats in the Western region. The current seats are filled by Deborah Ralls, Kortney Chase, David Salopek and Phillip Arnold. Please reach out to the Board office if you have questions regarding nominations and how to submit.

Upcoming Dates: March Board Meeting
Mark your calendars! The next APPB meeting is March 21, 2023. There will also be a Pecan Congress which brings together all the pecan associations, researchers, etc. to provide updates and open up for industry discussions.

2022 Crop Year Reporting for APPB
The 2022 crop year reporting is underway. The electronic reporting portal for APPB has been launched. The 2022 crop year runs from September 2022 to August 2023. All first handlers and importers will report the monthly forms through the portal at appbportal.com. Producers will also log in to the portal to submit all exemption and reimbursement forms. To register, visit the APPB portal website. If you have any questions regarding reporting for APPB, please reach out to the office at forms@eatpecans.com or call (817) 985-3034.

American Pecan Council (APC)
International Marketing
APC continues to invest USDA Market Access Program funds in China and Germany. The APC International Committee recently concluded a research project which outlined ways of better developing India as a pecan-consuming nation. APC hopes to align itself with a marketing representative in India to begin retail promotions in 2023.

Domestic Marketing
APC continues to conduct domestic marketing in two key areas in the U.S. The first area is social media influencing to meet consumers where they are scrolling through social media. On average, APC deploys about 15 Instagram, Reels and TikTok posts each month and reaches millions of followers in doing so. The second area of significance is APC efforts in the nutritional messaging space. APC continues to nurture its Pecan Powerhouse Network which currently has over 800 registered dieticians, nutritionists and physicians who make up the member body of this effective collaborating forum of professionals. Members are well versed in the nutritional benefits of pecans and share those benefits with their patients and clients. The Pecan Powerhouse Network will continue to grow in 2023.

Lastly, APC plans to complete three areas of health research in late 2023. These health studies are being conducted by Penn State University, the University of Colorado and the University of Georgia, and are focused on satiety, cardiovascular health and cholesterol. Keep an eye out for an update on these research studies in a future article.

2022 Crop Year Reporting for APC and 2021 Data Recap
Another crop year has come to a close on August 31, 2022, which means the Year-End Inventory report for the 2021 crop year has been published by APC. The report shows roughly a 50% decrease in the net open position in the pecan industry from the previous year. The September 2022 pecan industry position report also shows a 31% decrease in total handler pecan inventory. The data working group under the American Pecan Council has focused on streamlining the layout and presentation of the industry reports and creating a very efficient and transparent program. Some recent updates to the monthly reports include summary graphs for a quick industry snapshot. You can view all industry data reports on the American Pecan website. APC publishes these handler analytics monthly, and it is the only data source to be audited and verified.

Handlers continue to report monthly in the American Pecan Council’s reporting portal located at pecanportal.com. The current 2022 crop year runs from September 2022 to August 2023. If you have any questions regarding reporting for APC, please reach out to the office at forms@americanpecan.com or call (817) 916-0020.

Voluntary Quality Assurance Program
APC has been in development of a voluntary Quality Assurance Program. Earlier this year, APC conducted an industrywide survey and public comment period to receive all of industry’s feedback on the program. All the feedback was gathered and incorporated in updates to the program. The voluntary Quality Assurance Program working group under APC has reviewed the changes made to the Program. The program will now move for review by the committee and then final review and approval by the Council in the March Council meeting. In the meantime, APC is working on development templates and resources to help with participation of the program. Once the voluntary Program is approved by the Council, we will begin piloting the Program across each region.

New Council Seated
During the November 3rd Council meeting, the 2022-26 Council members and alternates were seated. A big welcome to the newly seated Council! The new officers are Larry Don Womack as Chairman, Deborah Ralls as Vice Chairwoman, Trent Mason as secretary and Lalo Medina as treasurer. We want to thank the following individuals that served on the previous Council and were involved in the start of the Federal Marketing Order: Mike Adams, Buck Paulk, Les Daviet, Larry Willson and Dan York.

Upcoming Dates: March APC meeting
The next American Pecan Council meeting is March 21, 2023. As previously mentioned, there will also be a Pecan Congress which brings together all the pecan associations, researchers, etc. which will follow the Board and Council meetings. All details will be included on the American Pecan website under the Industry Events tab.

If you have not done so already, please register on the American Pecan website to receive updates from the Council. We would love to hear from you!