Harvesting, Hulling and Processing California Walnuts

well my dad started to farm and 44 ago I was born when I was young we did everything they just progress over time the same went on like everything does you build it up into 300 acres my voice evacuated from college while then they started in the showing operation at that time at Anderson our ranch works hard to maintain each field throughout the year we take this time to evaluate every tree and assess its needs in the spring the trees are pruned to promote optimal growth result in a better quality tree that will be given the best chance to produce a high walnut yield through the years [Music] after the walnut holes is cracked they are ready to harvest the Shakers gently shake each tree [Music] you can tell when someone's shaking by the clouds of dust rising from the trees from their sweepers come in pick up the walnuts and move them the wind blows [Music] lastly the harvesters move in driving over the windrow scooping up the walnuts and unloading them into a bank out [Music] the walnuts are unloaded onto a conveyer belt that transfers them from a bank out to a trailer this trailer will then take the walnuts to a hauler to be cleaned and then dried [Music] the trailers ride over the holler bed to be unloaded [Music] up they go onto another conveyor belt while production workers pick out foreign material [Music] as the whole separate from the walnut and the holler drum they are cleaned and moved to one more sorting table so defective walnuts can be pulled [Music] wet green nuts are moved into metal dryer bins and each load is kept together when the walnuts are dried to an 8 percent moisture level they are removed from the metal bins onto a conveyor belt and loaded into one more trailer the dried walnuts are unloaded into another pit to be put in bins and stored until they are ready to be processed [Music] each bin is tagged with a lot number variety in grower code each bin can be easily traced throughout the warehouses by pulling up the lot number recorded in our database you [Music] [Music] you like me random samples of each lot of dried walnuts received are graded by the in show graders 100 nuts are individually cracked out and the kernels are evaluated for quality and color a picture is taken of a completed sample and the kernels are retained from this process we are able to give that lot an edible yield percentage the value of that lot when a customer orders walnut product they either request in shell or kernels for kernels the walnuts are unloaded into the sheller to have the shells taken off when the shell is removed the shaker removes any remaining shell and the kernels are stored in bins the kernels are transferred to the laser sorter this sorter can size each kernel and puts them into bins accordingly [Music] each bin is taken to the sorting tables for a final quality check [Music] these highly trained individuals meticulously look for imperfections that may compromise the overall quality of another Quality Control inspects each order to be sure that the customers products meet our company's highest specifications the kernels are boxed sealed stamped with a pack date and ran through our x-ray system that can detect any foreign materials and box [Music] the boxes continue to ride up on the conveyor belt where they will be stacked on the pallets and treatment [Music] in shell nuts are sized and sent down the conveyor to Philip fifty-pound sacks they are stacked on a pallet Iser and shrink-wrapped retail line offers our customers the ability to have their order custom packed into smaller quantities like these pouches that are ready to be placed on a store shelf we ship out walnuts gross domestically and across the world when an order is ready for pickup our custom boxes are either loaded by pallets or hand stacked into the trailer the trailer or container is locked and sealed and final weight out is reportedly proper documentation is handed over to the driver and the walnuts leave our facility ready to be placed on shelves and bulk bins consumers to enjoy it takes a team of dedicated employees to process over 20,000 acres to create the high quality product that we are known for and that has brought this company success for many years they made it work they did it and that's my biggest joy than being here and doing what they have done and I hope that it will continue and I hope the grandkid and as they grow up and work right into the operation you know I can't ask for anything better than that this is the story of the walnut the story of Anderson & Sons shelling [Music]

Channel: Andersen & Sons Shelling

Views: 45,115

Rating: 4.768116 out of 5

Keywords: walnuts, california walnuts, family-owned, agriculture, farming, nuts, harvesting, processing, hulling, drying

Id: xkMzSvTon40

Length: 8min 56sec (536 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2017