By KRWG News
Las Cruces – Cold temperatures are helping Dona Ana County pecan growers with their harvest.
Temperatures dipped into the 20s across the county Thanksgiving night, a so-called "killing" freeze farmers usually wait for before starting the pecan harvest.
The sharp cold snap preps nuts for the harvest by killing leaves and drying up husks around the pecan shell.
Pecan buyer and grower Phil Arnold says it usually takes orchards several days to dry enough for harvesting to begin in earnest after cold weather.
But he says that even before the cold snap, some growers were harvesting the fringes of their orchards because lighter freezes had already killed the leaves there.
Anthony Pecan Co. foreman Frank Rubio says that's the case for Anthony Pecan.
Rubio says the business has already shipped a few loads.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.