RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler is urging holiday shoppers to remember local pecan farmers as they attempt to salvage their storm-ravaged crop.

While November, which is Pecan Month in North Carolina, is usually busy for growers, Troxler notes that many growers are reporting a crop loss of 80 percent or more in 2016. He said in an average year, North Carolina farmers grow up to 5 million pounds of pecans.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the N.C. Pecan Growers Association are encouraging consumers to look for locally grown pecans. Shoppers can look for the Got to Be NC logo on packaged pecans, visit a farmers market or travel to more than two dozen pecan orchards, many of them in eastern and southeastern counties.