WAYNE COUNTY, N.C. – This year has been a very hard year for many. But there’s one group in the state that may actually have a good reason to be happy this year.

That group is pecan farmers.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture is predicting that the pecan crop for this season will likely be quite bountiful.

Part of the reason for that is good weather and the fact that there were no hits from a major hurricane.

"We've dodged any major hurricanes. We had a little whiff of one but not anything like what they've had in Alabama or South Georgia. We've been fortunate. We have rain at the right time. We have irrigation here, but Mother Nature is hard to beat," Pecan Farmer Tim Haithcock says.

Haithcock has been a pecan farmer for more than 25 years. He has more than 15 varieties of pecans on his orchard. Now in his 70s, Haithcock manages a 30-acre orchard, 800 to 900 trees, plus a nursery nearby.

He told us when we visited his farm near Goldsboro, that the crop was looking very good and he was excited about it.

North Carolina is among the top 10 states in the country for pecan production. Each year, somewhere between 4 and 5 million pounds are grown in the state.