Nut rebounds after rough season; demand stays good
ESCONDIDO - Macadamia nut harvest season begins this month in Southern California with first signs indicating the crop has rebounded after a tough 2007 that featured frost, freeze and fire, cutting output in half. The season runs through January.
"The harvest is just beginning, but the nuts are getting very big, and I think it's going to be a good crop," said Bobbi Rastle. She has grown macadamias for two decades along with her husband Tom in the San Pasqual Valley, about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego.
"Last year wasn't a good one," said Jim Russell, a Fallbrook grower and president of the California Macadamia Society. Russell also grows rare fruit and keeps exotic birds, but has nearly half of his six-acre farm turned over to macadamias.
"We had a terrible frost and then the fires," Russell said.
Crop statistics compiled by Robert Atkins, San Diego County agricultural commissioner, show the January 2007 frost and freeze coupled with October 2007 wildfires indeed took a large toll.
San Diego County growers produced 128 acres of macadamia nuts in 2006 accounting for 192 harvested tons worth $342,336, according to the annual crop report issued this summer. However, the tally fell to 55 harvested tons from 61 acres worth $189,844 in 2007. Scarcity generated higher producer prices, however.
Southern California is home to about 1,000 macadamia growers, with roughly half in San Diego County Many people have just a few trees, Russell said. Production centers around Fallbrook, where conditions ripe for avocado groves also are good for macadamia nuts. The Gold Crown Macadamia Association, a growers co-op established in 1971 and based near Escondido, has 356 members, accounting for about half of regional output, growers say.
"We have growers in the co-op from Santa Barbara to south of the Mexican border," Dan Hecko, co-op general manager said. "The main group is in the Fallbrook area. The area is second in U.S. production behind Hawaii."
Australia, where the nuts originated, has made a recent push and now leads world production, Hecko said.
"Demand, as a rule, has been good, almost an even-Steven deal, and we have been able to meet it," said Hecko, an Escondido grower who manages the macadamia co-op out of a shed at his huge outdoor statuary business off the Del Dios Highway.
"The nuts are being grown all over the world now," Hecko said. "Hawaii is not as big as it used to be, but we are seeing a lot of competition from Australia."
The major expense is water - they require as much as avocados, another San Diego County mainstay crop.
"There are no natural enemies," Hecko said. "The trees are easy to grow and very easy to maintain."
As estimated by University of California farm advisers, about 100 trees grow to an acre. The 100 trees produce about 3,000 pounds annually. Growth from seed to tree takes five to seven years and the trees grow indefinitely. Full production may take as long as 10 years.
Macadamias generally are harvested as they fall to the ground. In a nutshell, they're husked, dried, culled, cracked, dried some more, stored and distributed.
Membership in the growers co-op has been stable since 1996, accounting for about half the production in Southern California. Joining is free.
Members this year will get $1.95 per pound of premium and $1.20 per pound for regular nuts, Hecko said. Bulk in-shell nuts sell on the street for $3.50 to $4 per pound. Baby bird meal made of crushed nuts sells for $13 per pound. Ready-to-eat kernels sell for $9.50 per pound, Russell said.
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