Sahuarita's Pecan Orchards Are Changing Hands, and the Pecan Classic Was the Last Public Way In

South of Sahuarita Road, Nogales Highway runs between rows of pecan trees on both sides. A Green Valley News photographer stood there in April 2025 and caught cars passing through the groves, the same view anyone driving that stretch to Green Valley gets. On September 17, 2026, the company that has farmed those trees for six decades said it plans to sell them.

Farmers Investment Co., better known locally as FICO or by its Green Valley Pecan Co. name, announced an agreement to sell its assets to a consortium of pecan growers. The sale includes its orchards in Sahuarita, Continental, and San Simon. KVOA put the total at more than 7,000 acres of Southern Arizona pecan orchards.

The headline sounds bigger than what you'll see this fall. According to FICO, the trees are staying in pecan production. What's changing is something smaller and more personal. For several years the public has had fewer and fewer ways to get inside these orchards, and the sale just ended the last regular one.

What the announcement commits to, and what it leaves open

FICO's release is short, and every line in it counts. The company said the deal "ensures the FICO orchards will remain in pecan production for the foreseeable future." FICO President and CEO Brian Driscoll said, "We feel that the buyers of our farm will continue to be outstanding stewards of the land resources and will continue to grow high-quality pecans."

A spokesperson for the buyers, who weren't named, added that FICO "has been a pillar of Sahuarita, Green Valley, and San Simon for decades." The spokesperson also said the group is "proud to be joining these communities as growers, neighbors, and caretakers of this land."

For the people who work in the groves, the release explains that this is a sale of assets, not of the company itself. Formal employment with FICO ends at closing. FICO has offered severance to employees who stay through the transition, and it says the buyer expects to keep most of the current workforce.

Here's what we don't know as of early October 2026:

• Who is buying. FICO says it will share details about the buyer when the sale closes.
• When it closes. The only timeline given is "in the coming months."
• What happens to the run series. KVOA reported that officials say the future of the Pecan Orchard Run Series is unknown.

If you read KVOA's story, one detail is off. It credits the buyers' line about how "rare orchards like these are" to Driscoll. In FICO's own release, that line comes from the buyers' spokesperson.

How the public's ways into the orchards closed one by one

The trees aren't going anywhere, according to both FICO and the buyers. The orchards' public side is a different story, and it has been getting smaller for a while. FICO's own company timeline shows it step by step.

1. 1981. The Pecan Store opened. FICO's history calls it a local favorite for more than 40 years and "a link between the community and the operation."
2. 2009. The Sahuarita Pecan Festival began. It marked the start of harvest for 10 years, brought together businesses, families, entertainers, and nonprofits, and was recognized in 2019 as one of the top community events.
3. 2021. FICO "made the decision to end part of its operation" and focus on farming. It now grows, harvests, and cleans its pecans and sells them in the shell to a U.S. processor. That fall, KGUN reported the store was set to close on December 31. Customers told the station it had been a regular stop and a go-to for gifts.
4. Today. FICO's tours page says, "At this time we are not offering regular tours of our operation." Local nonprofits, schools, and associations can still ask about a group visit. The office address is a PO box, and public access is "by appointment only."

After those changes, one event still put the public under the trees on a regular schedule, and that was the Pecan Orchard Run Series. This year it was set to run three times. The Nut Run was held March 28 and Breeze in the Trees on August 8. The Pecan Classic 5K and 10K were set for November 7. FICO's race page described Breeze in the Trees as the summer run, when "the foliage is at its fullest which creates a protective canopy."

The Pecan Classic has been canceled. FICO says early registrants are getting refunds. Its farewell message lists the people who made race day happen:

To the runners who came back season after season, the volunteers who cheered you across the finish line, the Green Valley firefighters who cooked those post-race pancakes, the 4 H kids and their little petting zoo, our timing partners, our sponsors and the FICO employees who worked behind the scenes to make race day possible, thank you.

Over 17 years, the series gave more than $100,000 to local nonprofits and community groups. The August race supported Walden Grove cross-country, the Sahuarita 4-H Club, The Greater Green Valley Community Foundation, and the Green Valley Firefighters Association. Unless the buyers bring the series back, the August 8 run may turn out to be the last orchard race under FICO.

What the road will still show you this winter

The view from Nogales Highway is the part of the orchards still open to everyone, and harvest season is when it gets interesting. An earlier Arizona Daily Star story on the Sahuarita harvest, written back when FICO still ran its own processing plant, describes how a typical season goes. Work starts around the end of November and usually lasts until the end of January.

The trigger is the weather. Roger Hooper, who managed the Sahuarita farm when the Star interviewed him, said the crew waits for a hard freeze "so we can get all the leaves off before we start harvesting." Then a machine called a shaker moves down the rows, grips each tree as high as it can, and shakes it for three to five seconds. "It'll rain pecans," Hooper told the paper. If you're standing nearby, "you will feel the ground move." FICO's own harvest guide says the same thing: shakers bring the nuts down, then they're blown into rows and picked up by machine.

Before the sale, FICO's farm page listed more than 300,000 producing trees and annual production of more than 15 million pounds. Those numbers go back to 1965, when FICO began planting pecans after synthetic fibers pushed down demand for the cotton it had been growing. By 1969 it had more than 6,000 acres planted, and the first trees produced nuts in 1971. The company credits Keith Walden with founding FICO. The Arizona Farm and Ranch Hall of Fame notes that his son Richard became president in 1983.

Keep one practical point in mind. Watching from the road is open to everyone, but the groves themselves are private working farmland. FICO lists public access by appointment only, and a busy harvest isn't the time to pull over and walk in.

Where fall weekends happen this year instead

With no Pecan Classic, the community's fall calendar moves to town parks and neighborhood clubhouses. These are the dates on the books as of early October 2026:

• Sunset Market, Friday, Oct. 9 and Friday, Nov. 13, 5 to 8 p.m., at Sahuarita Lake Park, 15466 S. Rancho Sahuarita Blvd. It's free, with local music, food vendors, and homegrown sellers.
• Boo Bash Carnival & Truck-or-Treat, Saturday, Oct. 17, at Club Rancho Sahuarita, 15455 S. Camino Lago Azul. Rancho Sahuarita and Common Ground Church are hosting rides, games, and food trucks, and no registration is needed.
• Harvest Hoedown, also Saturday, Oct. 17, 4 to 7 p.m., at Longhorn Grill and Saloon in Amado. The GVC Foundation is hosting line dancing, a chuckwagon menu, and raffles.
• Pocket Park Party, Sunday, Oct. 25, 1 to 4 p.m., at Parque La Coraza, 707 W. Paseo La Azanca, with a Halloween theme.
• Winterfest, Saturday, Dec. 12, 5 to 9 p.m., at Sahuarita Town Hall, 375 W. Sahuarita Center Way, with a parade and tree lighting. A January town notice listed Dec. 13, so check with Parks and Recreation before you go.
• Lakeside Holiday Movie: Elf, Friday, Dec. 18, 5:30 to 7:15 p.m., at Sahuarita Lake Park. It's free.

Elf will screen about three weeks after harvest usually begins, so the shakers could be running in the groves along Nogales Highway the same week. The next real news should come with the closing announcement, when FICO says it will name the buyer and share more details.

I'll keep following this sale until it closes. If you'd like to talk through what a big local change like this could mean for your home, or you just want to know when the buyer is named, Emma Lee Samaniego is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.