Family’s pecan legacy lives on through ages A real tale of paddock to plate: Trawalla’s supply chain and global export business
THE largest pecan farm in the southern hemisphere is set to double its production over the next few years.
Trawalla, at Moree in north-west New South Wales, has about 90,000 pecan trees in production on 720 hectares.
The Stahmann Farmsowned property has been madly planting over the past three years to add another 36,000 trees to take the property to 1340 hectares over the next five years.
Stahmann Farms chief executive officer Ross Burling said Trawalla now produces 85 per cent of Australia’s pecans, the expansion will take them to a whopping 96 per cent.
THE SUPPLY CHAIN
THE Stahmann pecans and macadamias are processed at a plant in Toowoomba in south-west Queensland.
From there, the Riverside All Australian and Ducks Nutsbranded products head across Australia and the world.
“One of the reasons we are looking to plant more pecans is because we’ve been developing the related business Ducks Nuts,” Mr Burling said.
“The product is a winner for us.
“Not only is the product sold through Coles and Woolworths in Australia but we now have a Chinese website where they can order direct from Australia.”
HISTORY
STAHMANN Farms was established in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1932 by Deane Stahmann Sr.
He and his sons, the late brothers Deane Jr and Bill, planted more than 100,000 pecan trees on a vast property still operated by the family.
In 1965, Deane Jr came to Australia to create the first commercial pecan operation in the southern hemisphere.
He planted trees first at Gatton in south-east Queensland then at the flagship property Trawalla.
His dream of creating an industry was realised in 1982 when the Toowoomba processing plant began supplying the processed pecan nut kernel from these farms to Australia and the world.
PECANS
GENERALLY, a pecan tree can be harvested only after it has reached seven years of age.
But at Trawalla, they’ve worked out a way to harvest them two years early.
“All of our trees have the same genetics, new trees are grown from our own seeds,” Mr Burling said.
“We’ve got 42 years worth of history with our trees and with the help of scientists and technology, we’ve been able to apply our own R&D (research and development) programs inside the farm.
“We’ve also worked with researchers in the US.
“We’re always looking to find a better way, it’s part of our growth innovation.”
Mr Burling said with pecan trees, you were always planting for someone else.
“There’s pecan trees in the US that are over 100 years old,” he said.
“If we do it well now, they will still be around in 100 years.
“Pecan trees are good for the environment, have a low carbon footprint, they use a similar amount of water as cotton and they produce a product good for human beings.”
Mr Burling said the Moree climate was ideal for pecans.
“They get the heat through summer which produces nice, thick crops,” he said.
“They get adequate cool through winter.
“Pecan trees are an alternate bearer, so they will have a big crop one year and a small one the next, it’s about loss of energy from one year to the next.
“The winter helps prep the tree for the next climate.
“When they selected the property in 1956 I don’t think they realised how lucky they were.”
Trawalla employs the equivalent of 23 full-time staff and has a casual base during harvest.
Harvest starts in April and runs for three weeks. There is
When they selected the property in 1956 I don’t think they realised how lucky they were.”
— Ross Burling
a break for two to three weeks and the second half of the harvest kicks off in June.
Nuts are removed from the trees by a mobile shaker and collected from the ground by mechanical harvesters.
They are de-husked on farm before being shipped to the Toowoomba plant for storage and shelling as required.
MACADAMIAS
STAHMANN Farms has bought a macadamia property near Bundaberg.
“We’ve acquired 117
hectares on the Burnett River,” Mr Burling said.
“It will produce around 300 tonnes of macas to go through our supply chain.
“There’s around 30,000
trees on the property.”
Mr Burling said the first harvest would start about the middle of March and go for a few months, using machinery to shake the nuts off the
trees.
“We’re no smarter than the current maca farmers, but we will try everything we can to bring our efficiencies from pecans to macas,” he said.