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Stahmann Farms
LAS CRUCES, NM - Just a short 10 minute ride south of Las Cruces and visitors can find themselves immerced in a seemingly endless arbor of green and smack dab in the middle of the world’s largest family owned pecan orchard.
Stahmann Farms has not always been one of the largest pecan growers in the world. In fact, in 1926, when W. J. Stahmann, a buggy-maker from Wisconsin purchased 2,900 acres of land in the Mesilla Valley, he was set on growing cotton. He and his son, Deane, cleared the land and planted acres of cotton. The Stahmanns experimented with different types of cotton and even set up research farms in Jamaica and Mexico to grow cotton year-round. And although they developed a number of new varieties of cotton still grown around the world, to this day over 70 years later, no one knows exactly why Stahmanns decided to pull out all their cotton plants and plant the first pecan trees in the valley.
What ever the reason, Deane planed over 4,000 acres of pecan trees in the early 1930’s. Soon the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the U.S. and several years later when his son planted 2,000 acres of pecans in Australia, the Stahmanns became the largest pecan producing family in the world.
Stahmanns quickly became an American success story with many Hollywood celebrities visiting every year during the 40’s and 50’s. The farm was even the subject of a Life Magazine feature.
Today, two varieties of pecans are harvested at Stahmann Farms, the Western Schley and the Bradley, both known for a high quality yield and a soft shell. The farm produces between eight and 10 million pounds of nuts a year from over 180,000 trees, about 48 trees per acre. The farm uses virtually no chemical insecticides, relying on green and black aphids living in the bushes and weeds to control the natural predators.
Unlike many years ago, today’s pecan harvesting is a highly mechanized operation. After the fields have been cleared of weeds, grass and brush, machines known as shakers hold and shake specific branches causing all of the nuts to fall from the tree. Next, sweeping machines form rows of nuts ready for the harvester to pick them up.
The pecans are than taken to the cleaning house where up to a quarter of a million pounds of nuts are processed each day during the annual harvest. After all the debris has been removed, metal brushes peel off any remaining hull still on the nuts, and then they are sorted by size. Once sorted and cracked, the pecans are mechanically separated to weed out only the best quality nuts. They are then stored and ready to be shelled.
Stahmanns products range from items as simple as a can of roasted or un-roasted pecans, to fancy holiday gift baskets. Stahmanns also produces a variety of pecan candy, which is manufactured at an on-site candy factory. Tours of the factory are available during the non-harvest season.
Products are available via mail order year-round and can even be found on the QVC home shopping network. Stahmanns even has an on-site store complete with pecan products and an assortment of books and other items reflecting the history of farm and ranch life in New Mexico.
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