Walnut harvest begins in Sutter County after mild summer boosts quality
It's that time of year again, walnut season is cracking open. It's the first shake.
"Yeah, the whole team is busy; this is what we work for all year," said Davin Norene, owner of Big Time Farming in Rio Oso.
While most people are sleeping, walnut farmers and their teams are putting in work, kicking off the first harvest of the season early Wednesday.
"As you know, it was so nice and mild this summer in Sacramento and in the Sacramento Valley. That's great for our walnut quality," Norene said.
It's a good thing this year's growing season was strong. California produces 99% of the country's walnuts. At a farm in Rio Oso, they're expecting to harvest 4 million pounds.
"California is ideally suited for walnuts. Our Mediterranean climate makes it so that we can grow a really high-quality crop," said Norene. "They're hugely important for our local economy and communities."
Harvest season is all hands on deck, from shaking to sweeping, picking up, and processing. After three generations, big-time farming in Sutter County has a good system going.
"This has been part of our family ranch since the 1950s. My grandfather and grandmother bought this ranch," Norene said.
Crews are starting with the Howard walnut. When the nuts start to naturally split, that means it's time to shake the trees.
Next up is sorting out debris. Then, it's time to clean and dry and off they go to be packaged and sent to market. Norene said they'll be harvesting through Nov. 1.
"It's huge for not just my family, my team, the community," Norene said. "The entire local economy kind of depends on farms like us. We're just kind of a piece of a local community rural engine that we want to keep going."
The chance for rain showers toward the end of the week will help the walnuts split more uniformly, according to Norene.