Shoei Foods USA: Showcasing Yuba-sutter ag abroad
The Shoei Foods
USA processing plant in Olivehurst provides walnuts around the world and helps educate people from different continents about local agricultural processes, all while providing jobs to area residents and supporting different events and efforts around the Yuba-sutter area.
Shoei Foods USA is a subsidiary of Shoei Foods Corporation, a Japanbased food ingredient company. The parent company was established in 1904 and is now Japan’s largest importer of dried fruits and nuts including walnuts, almonds and raisins. The company has eight processing plants in Japan, two in China, and one on Feather River Boulevard in Olivehurst. The local plant was first established in Oregon in 1985 but relocated to the area in 1990.
“Shoei grows both prunes and walnuts on about 1,000 acres in the
Sacramento Valley and contracts with some of the best walnut and prune growers in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley,” said Brian Dunning, CEO and president of Shoei Foods USA.
The local facility processes and packs walnuts, both in-shell and shelled, for global customers, though their primary market is Japan. Shoei has a business alliance with Sunsweet to pack and process all of the prunes grown as well.
Shoei Foods USA has seen its fair share of trials since relocating to the area, the latest being the COVID-19 pandemic. Dunning said the challenges created by the virus have impacted the way his team operates, as well as many of their customer’s businesses.
“As an essential business, we have continued to process, pack and ship walnuts during this time while implementing many operational changes to protect our employees,” he said.
Seven years after moving to the area, a Feather
River levee broke and inundated the entire facility, including a warehouse full of prunes. The company didn’t have flood insurance, but they honored their commitment to growers by ensuring that every single grower was paid in full.
“Our growers remember this, and that is why we’ve developed extremely loyal grower relationships,”
Dunning said. “Our growers know they can always count on Shoei for on-time payments through good and not-so-good times.”
The facility also caught fire in May 2014. The fire lasted more than 48 hours and destroyed a large part of the facility. Due to dedicated employees and the support of the community, they were able to rebuild and within five months they were back up and running, Dunning said.
Aside from being an agricultural processor, the facility also hosts guests from Japan who visit to learn about agriculture and where different ag products come from around the state – a program sponsored by Shoei Foods Corporation. The visit typically happens during harvest in September.
The corporation has also sponsored California growers to visit Japan to do the same thing.
“By supporting these types of visits, Shoei is committed to investing to grow the tremendous market for many
California products to Japan,” Dunning said. “Most California nut processors do not make any investments to grow global markets, which is now resulting in lower farm prices as the supply of California almonds and walnuts significantly grows.”
Dunning said the company is dedicated to the Yuba-sutter community and will be here for many years to come.
“Shoei is proud to be part of the Yuba-sutter area and we are here to grow with the community,” he said. “We are a proud sponsor of many community functions such as the Yuba-sutter Fair, the Chamber of Commerce and its events and the Rideout Cancer Society, to mention a few.”