Development
We establish our own almond tree nursery to plant into the orchards, which enables us to pick the strongest and healthiest of trees to plant.
All aspects of our business are personally either done or overseen by ourselves, with all redeveloping of orchards completed by us. This spans from the preparation of the soil, the surveying, layout and mapping of the new orchards. This relates to the direction of the tree rows to maximise hours of sunlight, which benefit the tree to grow and for the drying of the almond husk at harvest time.
Prevailing wind directions are important too, as the tree needs to be protected from strong winds which can cause breakage, especially in their younger years when they are first cropping.
During the first few years of growing, each tree is hand-pruned. We do this to give structure to the tree and to provide strength to the limbs that are left. This also allows sunlight and airflow through the tree, which plays an important role in not only growing a strong, healthy tree, but also for producing a quality almond.
We have invested in specialised harvesting machinery and equipment which allows us the flexibility to harvest when we need to. If we see that the nuts are at the perfect moisture levels, we can start to harvest right away, and can have the almonds ready to be hulled and shelled within days of them being picked.
If we see a rain event coming, owning and operating our own equipment means that we can harvest and store all our product before it rains, and this ensures that our almonds are all stored undercover and eliminates the chance of them absorbing moisture – keeping them nice and crunchy.
We are able to have a quick turnaround time from the moment our almonds are harvested, to the hulling and shelling stage and then the sorting and packing procedure. New-season almonds are ready to be dispatched within two weeks of when they are harvested. You simply cannot get any fresher than that!
Having our own prime mover along with custom made trailers we are able to cart our almonds from our properties to the hulling and shelling facility and then bring back the finished product within 3 days.
We are self-sufficient with all our equipment which gives us complete control of the operation and gives us the advantage of enabling us to be one of the first suppliers of NEW SEASON Australian almonds in the domestic and International marketplace every year.