Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 18
From Tree s to Pies
One family's
two pecan
businesses span
fi ve generations
Left: In 1958, Vernon Byrd bought 10 acres that included a small pecan grove.
He fell in love with the trees and was a pioneer in pecan grafting and production,
until he passed away in 2003. Above: Today the farm is two groves
across 600 acres and is tended by his children and grandchildren.
by Sara Schafer | sschafer@ruralmissouri.coop
S
ometimes you meet a person so dedicated to their
craft their passion is infectious. For Jennifer Cassaday,
that was her grandfather Vernon Byrd and his
love of pecans. As Jennifer - and anyone who knew
Vernon - will tell you it wasn't a challenge to get him to
start talking about the native Missouri nut. The challenge
was to get him to stop.
" My grandpa loved pecans, " Jennifer says. " He used to
eat them on everything, even on top of his scrambled eggs.
He always said everybody should eat at least a handful of
pecans every day. "
The Byrd family's dedication to pecans started back in
1958. Vernon and his wife, Mary Ann, bought 10 acres
near Butler, moving from eastern Oklahoma to westcentral
Missouri. The property had a few pecan trees and
he set about planting more and creating a massive grove.
" Back in the 1960s, he couldn't fi nd anybody to show
him grafting, " says Cindy Bays, Vernon's daughter and
18 RURAL MISSOURI | JANUARY 2024
Jennifer's mother. " But he knew they did it with grapes, so
he started trying it with his pecan trees. "
He had a simple goal: Create the best-tasting pecan.
Because of their high fat content, Missouri Native
pecans are more fl avorful than other types. So, Vernon
used them as the base of all his grafting. He added in
Kanza and Pawnee varieties to increase nut size while still
building off the tastiness of the Missouri Native. Over his
35-year career in pecan growing, Vernon grafted more than
4,700 trees with multiple improved southern varieties, and
his son, Mark, continues grafting several hundred trees
annually. Today, Byrd's Pecans encompasses 12,000 trees
in two groves across 600 acres.
Vernon died in 2003, but the pecan trees and his entrepreneurial
spirit live on through his wife, children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. As any of the Byrds
will tell you, growing, harvesting and processing pecans
include equal hours of family bonding and memories.
" My grandpa would always say if you are old enough to
feed yourself, you are old enough to work, " says
Rural Missouri - January 2024
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - January 2024
Contents
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - Cover1
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - Cover2
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - Contents
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 4
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 5
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 6
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 7
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 8
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 9
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 10
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 11
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 12
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 13
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 14
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 15
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 16
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 17
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 18
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 19
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 20
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 21
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 22
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 23
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 24
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 25
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 26
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 27
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 28
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 29
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 30
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 31
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 32
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 33
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 34
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 35
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 36
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 37
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 38
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 39
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 40
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 41
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 42
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 43
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 44
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 45
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - 46
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - Cover3
Rural Missouri - January 2024 - Cover4
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