By KRWG News
Las Cruces – The pecan harvest is wrapping up in southern New Mexico's Mesilla Valley.
The harvest ran about a month late this season because of wet weather early in the harvest.
Pecan grower David Slagle shipped his last 45,000-pound load to a buyer on Friday.
He says the harvest usually in finished in mid-January.
Slagle says crews would start harvesting, then it would rain and they'd have to stop.
Wet weather leaves orchards muddy and prevents heavy, nut-harvesting machinery from moving through.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated New Mexico will produce 76 million pounds of pecans.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.