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Good times for WA’s biggest walnut orchard as this year’s harvest hits the shelves

Shannon Verhagen Countryman
Omega Walnuts farmer David Williams says the shells from previous harvests are kept and used as compost on the farm.
Camera IconOmega Walnuts farmer David Williams says the shells from previous harvests are kept and used as compost on the farm. Credit: Shannon Verhagen/Countryman/Countryman

The passionate farmers behind the largest walnut orchard in the heart of the State’s premiere southern food bowl region are celebrating a number of milestones this year.

WA’s first certified organic walnuts are set to hit shelves this month, after Manjimup’s Omega Walnuts received the certification for 35ha of the 60ha orchard in January.

It makes the organic component the biggest of its kind in Australia.

After years of fine-tuning management practices to get the most out of their trees, director David Williams – who runs the farm with his wife Noellene and five staff, headed by orchard manager Brad Tassos – said it was an exciting time for the operation.

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Coupled with a record harvest from their 25ha conventional crop – after a hailstorm decimated 2021’s crop – it has been a good year for the Southern Forest growers.

Omega Walnuts' David Williams in the Manjimup orchard.
Camera IconOmega Walnuts' David Williams in the Manjimup orchard. Credit: Shannon Verhagen/Countryman/Countryman

Farming was a passion which came later in life for Mr Williams, whose early career was spent in law and hospitality — running hotels, pubs and accommodation.

He was also chairman of the WACA for nine years and together with his wife runs an eco-lodge and wildlife sanctuary in Tasmania.

Looking for a change, he and his wife bought a property in Nannup as a rural retreat from city life in 2008, and by chance they fell into the omega-3 and 6 rich nuts.

“It’s right on the banks of Blackwood near town, and we were going to grow timber trees for furniture… but we weren’t allowed to have a plantation that close to town,” he said.

“They said, ‘you can have an orchard.’ So we looked around as to what we can do and it just sort of happened with walnuts when we read how truly good they are for your health.”

They began on a small scale — planting 1500 trees across 3ha in 2001 — before purchasing a former vegetable farm in Manjimup to pursue the venture on a bigger scale in 2008.

Today, with their partners Michael and Sue Foulds and others from the Foulds family (who have been involved from the beginning) they have 21,000 trees across 60ha, with on-farm processing and packaging.

Looking to find a niche in the market, they decided to embark on the journey to become certified organic. It has been a challenging but fascinating learning curve, with the team continually exploring how to get the most out of their trees organically.

“It’s much harder to grow them organically,” Mr Williams said.

“We’ve used a lot of people (for advice), we get information from a lot of sources and studies and we know what we’re deficient in. Noellene is the architect when it comes to inputs.”

Sheep are run in the Omega Walnuts orchard.
Camera IconSheep are run in the Omega Walnuts orchard. Credit: Shannon Verhagen/Countryman/Countryman

So far, their hard work on both the organic and conventional orchards is paying off.

The combined orchards produced 134 tonnes this harvest, well up from the farm’s 93 tonne average.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on inputs, a lot more than we’ve ever spent before,” Mr Williams said.

“So for me it was very pleasing because the proof was in the pudding.

“Our yield this year for conventional was very good – we’re over 3t/ha, which is the best we’ve ever had. Brad and his team deserve a lot of credit.

“The organic is only 1.6t/ha, so that’s obviously quite a difference in yield, but we were expecting that in the first year of full certification.”

Using the shells of the previous season’s nuts as compost, compost sprays, running sheep in the orchard and using products which input calcium, potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus into the system are among the organic management methods in place.

The production line has also been designed to minimise damage to the nuts’ pellicle (membrane), which Mr Williams said protected the Omega 3 and 6 oils and preserved the taste.

Omega Walnuts' David Williams in the on-farm processing facility.
Camera IconOmega Walnuts' David Williams in the on-farm processing facility. Credit: Shannon Verhagen/Countryman/Countryman

Mr William’s son Michael designed the operation’s nut-cracker to be as gentle as possible during the cracking process.

“You can taste the difference – we’re all about creating that premium product,” he said.

Following harvest in May – which involves a shaker going through the orchard shaking the fruit off the trees, followed by a sweeper picking up the fruit and putting it in the harvester – the nuts are put in warming vats to dry out.

They are then sorted into three sizes – -32mm, 32-36mm and +36mm – before being cracked and put through a laser colour sorter, and packed into branded bags in the on-farm packaging facility which was opened in 2017 by WA Premier Mark McGowan.

Omega Walnuts have been on shelves in WA for more than 10 years, but can now offer certified organic products as well.

This year’s milestones are a welcome reward after what was one of their toughest years in 2021 when a “freak hailstorm” on December 30 destroyed their crop.

“Our farm manager at the time, his father was 75 and had been a farmer in the area his entire life and had never seen anything like it,” Mr Williams said.

“It was hard – it lasted 20 minutes. The fruit was soft and the hail just hit like bullets and we didn’t know what the damage was done inside to the kernel.

“We ended up with 12 tonne, so it was a huge setback and we really had to focus heavily on the 2022 harvest to make a comeback.”

The Omega Walnuts brand sells premium and organic product, packaged on-farm in Manjimup.
Camera IconThe Omega Walnuts brand sells premium and organic product, packaged on-farm in Manjimup. Credit: Shannon Verhagen/Countryman/Countryman

The turn of events has given them the confidence to pursue new markets in Europe, with WA walnuts “coming online” when the world’s major walnut growers in the Northern Hemisphere are out of season.

Passionate about walnuts and producing a home-grown premium product for both domestic and international consumers, Mr Williams was looking forward to the journey ahead and excited to see this year’s harvest hit the shelves.

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