STATEMENT

OF

MR. HILTON R. SEGLER

PRESIDENT

GEORGIA PECAN GROWERS ASSOCIATION

ALBANY, GEORGIA

BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON

GENERAL FARM COMMODITIES AND RISK MANAGEMENT

MAY 14, 2007

Good Afternoon Chairman Etheridge and members of the committee. My name
is Hilton Segler. I am a retired pecan grower and President of the
Georgia Pecan Growers Association, Inc.

Pecan History

Pecans grow in 20 states. Most of our improved varieties are grown along
the Gulf Coast from New Mexico to North Carolina. Georgia has the most
production followed by Texas. Pecans are the only major crop that is
native to the United States. All other major crops were imported to
America from other countries.

George Washington planted several young pecan seedlings at Mount Vernon
in 1774. Thomas Jefferson started growing pecan trees at Monticello in
1779. Union soldiers returning north in 1865 after the civil war brought
pecans with them and helped to increase the nuts popularity. It took
about four centuries for the pecan to become an important crop in the
United States; it reached a commercial scale in 1920 and has increased
steadily ever since.

Most edible tree nuts are essentially one state crops; Almonds,
Pistachios, and Walnuts are produced in California; Filberts in Oregon
and Macadamia nuts in Hawaii. The pecan on the other hand, is a
multi-state crop, stretching across the country from the Southeast to
the Southwest throughout some twenty states.

Pecans are one of our National Treasures; over 40 % of both houses of
Congress, regardless of party affiliation have pecans growing in their
state. I just wanted you to understand the importance of pecans to our
nation.

Federal Crop Insurance

I chaired the committee, which began in 1980, to get Congress to pass a
bill that would enable the RMA to provide federal crop insurance for our
pecan growers. Not until 1998 did RMA allow us to have three pilot
counties (Dougherty, Lee and Mitchell) in Georgia. In 2003, we were able
to add seventy-nine additional counties in Georgia and in 2004 added two
additional counties in Alabama (Baldwin and Mobile). Only in 2005 was a
national program approved twenty-five years after we started.

It was the sense of Congress on the expansion of crop insurance that
enabled us to move forward in the last five years. There are some small
changes but important provisions that need to be made to the current
policy to bring it in line with other crops. Crops such as Peaches,
Peanuts, Blueberries, Cotton, Corn, etc. have a provision that in the
event of a crop failure insurance coverage cannot be adjusted down more
than 10 % of the individual farms APH (yield average); this is referred
to by RMA as a 10 % percent cup. Long range weather forecasters predict
that the Gulf Coast region weather patterns will continue for the next
fifteen to twenty years. If this is true, our crop insurance would be
worthless in a few years without this 10 % cup

Pecan growers' insurance has decreased \$200.00-\$300.00 per acre and
premiums have increased as much as \$ 10.00 per acre sense the
devastating hurricanes of 2004. We experienced a severe drought in the
late summer/fall of 2005, which began in August, just as the flowers for
the following year's (2006) crop were being induced. Any stress,
especially drought, occurring at this time, will limit the return crop
as it puts additional stress on the tree to bring its current crop to
maturity. To correct this with our growers, RMA would need to go back to
the 2004 crop and re-adjust the growers APH as if the 10 % cup was in
effect at that time. RMA should not accept any additional claims or
premiums for this time period.

Another change in the policy would be to permit a grower to insure his
pecans by farm number. At the present time a grower can insure by
practice (irrigated or non-irrigated) but has to average all his pecan
groves by county. Many of our growers have farms located several miles
apart. There could be a hail storm on one farm but not on another. It
makes no sense not to let each farm be insured by farm number. This is
why most all other crops have this safety protection and we don't
understand why pecans are different. A good example would be like having
three houses all insured and one was destroyed by fire and your insurer
asked you to average the appraised value of the other two, and only paid
you the difference, regardless of the insurance on the one that you
lost.

I want to thank the Committee for giving our organization an opportunity
to testify today. We sincerely hope the 2007 Farm Bill will address
these issues of concern to our Pecan Producers and reflect the value of
their production to the U.S. Economy, as well as the dietary needs of
all Americans. Thank You