Discussion Document for the Hazelnut Company Agm 30/6/02
Version 4 (3-07)
IN-SHELL NUT DELIVERY STANDARDS FOR GROWERS IN THE HAZELNUT COMPANY LIMITED
The quality standards contained in this document will be reviewed annually prior to commencement of the harvest.
All inwards hazelnut deliveries will be weighed and subjected to quality and moisture checks prior to acceptance. Growers are encouraged to deliver their nuts personally and to observe the quality checking process.
All nuts are to be delivered in onion sacks. Every sack must carry the grower/s name/s, and cultivar/s e.g. Whiteheart, Ennis, Mervielle etc or “mixed”. GST number to be advised at time of delivery.
Deliveries will be weighed as bulk lots, and a receipt issued. Payments will be calculated on the delivery weight after applying discounts based on quality checks as detailed below.
Please note that all varieties of nuts are now being accepted, but because of their low yield and generally larger number of unsound nuts, there will be a reduced payout, based on, Alexandra 20% yield, Other varieties 24%. There may be some variation where top lines can be used for specialty markets.
General quality standards
(a) Nuts to be clean and free from all foreign matter, including husks, and free of
visible damage by insects and rodents.
(b) Shells must be intact with no cracks or splits.
(c) Nuts must be large enough so as to not pass through a 12mm mesh screen.
(d) All nuts to be of the current harvest year.
(e) All nuts must be of uniform acceptable colour. Colouring of either a greying or darker shade from the normal brown would indicate stale or previous years nuts.
(f) Whiteheart nuts to be free of other varieties.
(g) Alexandra nuts to be separated from any other variety.
(h) Other pollinator preferably separated, but may be mixed.
The Company accepts that small numbers of faulty nuts may be present in whiteheart deliveries. If there is a larger number of faulty nuts than normally would be expected, the line of nuts will be paid out on acceptable kernel recovered at the rate of the relevant inshell price x 2.5.
If the line is below average an additional charge may be made for labour costs deemed to be over and above what would normally be required to process an average line of nuts.
Extremely poor lines risk being rejected.
Moisture content. Sample must have a kernel moisture content of less than 6.0 %. Shareholders are encouraged to submit a sample of at least 20 nuts prior to delivery for a moisture check at no charge. A further moisture test will be carried out on delivery. It is the grower’s responsibility to ensure that any pre-
delivery sample for moisture testing is representative of the delivered lot.
The company management/directors reserve the right to reject deliveries of sub-standard nuts.
Appended to this notice are some handy tips to assist growers to achieve delivery standards.
Achieving the standards set can be made easier with some good practices on farm.
Please note - Sample checks of 2002 and 2003 crops saw deductions in delivery weights ranging from nil to over 20%. Processing experience by the factory production team indicated that had the production people been paid a fair labour rate it would have cost more to outsort the rejected percentage than the value of reduction made against the growers’ delivery payments.
It is therefore vital that all growers take ownership of the quality of their crops, undertake a comprehensive on-farm fine sort and aspire to the standards notified. With a good effort pre and post harvest achieving a sound result from the sample processing check should not be difficult. It is for this reason that we have updated the quality standards to recover costs by penalizing poorly presented/sorted lines, with an additional labour cost deduction.
Pre Harvest. (start in January)
Spray out weeds and suckers. Small suckers burn off quickly using Buster but some may wish to cut these away.
Rake up, vacuum up, blow away all old nuts, early dropped nuts (usually wind assisted in Jan/Feb), sticks stones etc so that there is a firm, clear orchard floor.
Harvest time
Weather is a determining factor. Do not harvest wet nuts.
In many cases nuts can be left on the ground until nut drop is virtually completed.
A period of drying on the ground does no harm at all, in fact beneficial, providing nuts are not lying in wet/damp grass.
If machine harvesting make use of a separate fine sort facility ( a raised bedlike structure with an in-lay of 12 mm square wire netting is very satisfactory, also easy on back and hands. Don’t forget to leave a gap in which to place a piece of guttering piping or similar in which to lower the sorted nuts to a bag or bin). The same system is also recommended for those still hand harvesting.
Bag the nuts following the fine sort, taking care to have cultivars separated into own clearly labeled onion sacks. (Note – when using the ties on onion sacks don’t make knots. Bows are sufficient to contain nuts either standing upright or lying down, and it assists greatly at factory when weighing in and obtaining nuts for sample checks from individual bags).
Post Harvest
Find a “spot” e.g. conservatory, spare room in house, properly sealed shed (from rodents, birds etc) where the onion sacks can be stored upright. Upright is preferred to lying them in stacks as air movement around and in the sacks is the best way to get the in-shell nuts moisture content reduced. Use a warm place, preferably from sunlight rather than artificial means (avoid excessive heat, 25oC is recommended).
There should be no need to have the nuts commercially dried.
Following a reasonable drying period, say, 4 to 6 weeks send a sample of at least 20 nuts, obtained from different areas of the stored sacks, to the company’s factory when a sample moisture check will be attended to and the results advised to the grower. A further moisture test will be carried out after delivery and we cannot guarantee that your pre-delivery sample will give the same moisture result as the more comprehensive post delivery test. It will however be a useful guide as to the progress of your drying.
All onion sacks are to be labeled individually (Tuflok Computer Labels of varying sizes are available from Fruitfed Supplies) and carry the growers’ name, and cultivar.
Growers who are uncertain of the quality of their nuts and who live more than a comfortable drive from the Christchurch factory, may find it preferable to send in a larger sample (1 to 2kgs if appropriate) so that both moisture and quality checks can be achieved prior to making a fully loaded delivery.
When moisture content is assessed to have reduced to under 6% arrange for crop to be delivered to factory.
(Onion sacks should always be new each season, they will not be recycled from factory as they break down in light and from handling over a 6 to 12 month period. They can be purchased from Textile Bag & Sack Co. Ltd, 55 Byron St, Sydenham, Christchurch , phone 03 366 2259, or Fruit Fed, 27 Waterloo Rd., Hornby, ph 03 349 9948. )
These notes will be placed on the company’s web site ( for ease of reference and so that they can be amended from time to time to reflect grower input (sharing good experiences and practices) and factory experiences to assist all growers in gaining the best possible yield from their harvest.