Putt Wetherbee spent his childhood alongside his father atop one of Georgia's only two mechanized harvesters. Shelling gadgets and gizmos were eye-candy and Putt relished the camaraderie that came with harvest time and in the everyday inner workings of the Schermer Pecan shelling plant. Today, Putt is still inspired by pecans - from watching the buds break in April to harnessing the latest in technology and managing the increased world demand. Pecans are in Putt’s blood. His father, a pecan grower since 1959, purchased Schermer Pecans in 1977 and with it became the owner of one of the largest pecan companies in Georgia. Putt’s namesake, planter and philanthropist Francis Flagg Putney, was part of the largest commercial pecan planting that took place around the turn of the century and some of the orchards still remain in the family.

In 2017, Putt was paralyzed in a home invasion challenging his ability to tend to his orchards and he has spent the last few years overcoming countless obstacles from health to hurricanes. As soon as he could, Putt went to work developing ingenious ways to get back to work in the orchards - creating a track system and a Polaris off-road vehicle with a makeshift seat attached to the bumper. There is no doubting Putt’s passion for pecans. For more on Putt Wetherbee, please see this short video produced by Georgia Pecans.