In 2007 my wife and I married and moved into the house that my mother grew up in, located on our small family farm 4 miles north of Kenansville, NC. In 2011, we purchased 30 acres behind our house that perfectly squared off our farm and connected us with my parents’ farm. We wanted to do something productive with our newly purchased land, so we researched several ideas to find the perfect fit. Since we both had other full-time jobs, we needed to find something that would fit into our already busy lives, and a pecan orchard seemed to be just right. My wife and I both grew up on working farms, and working outside had always given me great satisfaction. Dark Branch Pecans officially began in January of 2013 when the first 300+ bare root pecan trees were planted – varieties consisting of Pawnee, Cape Fear, Kiowa, Sumner, and Gloria Grande.

So, what made a pecan orchard appealing? A pecan orchard is a unique investment because pecan trees take a long time to begin producing nuts, typically 7-10 years. Since most farmers are looking at crops with a much quicker ROI (return on investment) period, we knew there would be minimal competition in Eastern North Carolina. North Carolina is almost like a new frontier for the pecan industry – We are currently a pecan deficient state, meaning that our state consumes more pecans than we produce.

While farming our pecan orchard has been a lot of hard work over the years, as most farming operations are, few things can rival the satisfaction of a productive harvest. Our first official harvest was in the fall of 2020 and was, and remains, a family affair, typically lasting from September through November. Our hope is that in years to come the work we do will teach our children life-long lessons in perseverance and that they will experience the personal satisfaction that comes from helping to feed our growing population, a feeling familiar to farmers across the world.

We love our pecans so much that we plan to add another 700+ trees in the future to expand our existing 350 tree orchard, continuing to grow and provide the highest quality pecans attainable.