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Nutkin Farm
Australia
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2019
A video log of the idyllic property in Rosebank, northern NSW that tempted a conservative Sydney barrister to try moonlighting as a macadamia farmer. Starting right at the beginning in July 2019, you can follow the adventure: mistakes, successes, experiments and discoveries. I don't expect many subscribers because I'm not trying directly to entertain. If it turns out popular I'll invest in a decent camera and do it properly. Thanks for visiting! Daniel
Fungicide for flowers?
In 2024, a fungicide called Merivon has been approved for use on macadamia flowers. But does that mean farmers should spray it? The answer isn’t so clear…
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Group therapy for macadamia farmers
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In July 2024 I attended my first ever “MacGroup”, hosted by the Australian Macadamia Society. Here’s a breakdown of how it went.
5 years of Nutkin Farm.
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In 2019 I found the courage (not sure from where!) to start the journey of running a macadamia farm alongside my normal city life. So.. 5 years in.. has it turned out how I thought?
Farmer wants a Ferrari… or a ute?
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What kind of runaround vehicle does a macadamia farmer really need in the Northern Rivers of NSW? The answer mightn’t be as obvious as you’d think.
Macadamia topworking - worth the effort?
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The technique of changing one variety of macadamia tree into another by “topworking” is getting some attention again in South Africa. But is it worth the effort? Let’s look at the issues.
Byron Shire Council vs macadamia farming
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Most macadamia farming in the Northern Rivers falls within three local government areas: Ballina, Lismore and Byron. What’s happening in Byron is a concern. But let’s start with something happier - the Bangalow billy cart derby!
Primex 2024 - toys and tools for macadamia farmers
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Well, this was a fun expo. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Primex, here are my quick takes on what I found most interesting in the hundreds of exhibits.
The basics of macadamia harvesting
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“How are macadamias harvested?” It’s the most common question I get. Here’s one for people new to macadamias. The end screen links to videos of actual harvesting taking place on Nutkin Farm.
The macadamia kernel vs nut-in-shell question
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This is a tricky one. Harvest is under way and we’re all doing deals with processors to buy our nuts on the best possible terms, but what happens to our nuts after that? And should we care?
Macadamia price bulletin, 2024.
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My annual review of the price offers made to Australian growers for the 2024 season. Sincere thanks go out to those who contributed offer documents, feedback and support for the work that went into this roundup. Errata: Macadamias Direct is owned by the Belgian Finasucre group, not Chinese interests. My apologies to MD for that error. Caution: some processors' offers may have changed after publ...
Macadamia pricing 2024: the elephant is in the room!
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While there are too few offers out to do my full comparison, the whole industry has been waiting for Marquis Macadamias to announce its farm gate pricing for nuts in 2024. Here it is, together with some early discussion about its implications for growers.
First evidence of macadamia pricing for 2024!
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The moment farmers wait for seems to get later every season - but at least one processor has been bold enough to come out with its price. Let’s see what that is, and what the fine print says.
Time management on macadamia farms.
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I know. It sounds boring. I didn’t even want to make this video. But if you’re dreaming the dream of being a part time macadamia farmer, or just juggling your time commitments - have a look. It might help.
The Macadamia Show - Episode 19
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In this show I made good on long held plans to interview Mel and Ron Caccianiga of Gondwana Macadamias. It was my first experience with a farm planted on sandy coastal flats, but the real surprise is what they do with their crop! An inspiration. For more, visit www.gondwanamacadamias.com.au
Macadamia farming in the February weather shuffle
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Oh, it’s a challenge! A little bit wet to show you much of Nutkin, but there’s still plenty to see - including my soil test results from the last Macadamia Show.
The ideal row spacing for macadamias?
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The ideal row spacing for macadamias?
Macadamia retail prices: A case to answer?
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Macadamia retail prices: A case to answer?
What’s ahead for macadamia farmers in 2024?
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What’s ahead for macadamia farmers in 2024?
A round-up of the top macadamia growing countries.
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A round-up of the top macadamia growing countries.
Is the cost of macadamia farming too high?
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Is the cost of macadamia farming too high?
The “nutset” stage of macadamia farming
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The “nutset” stage of macadamia farming
The Macadamia farm market review, 2023
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The Macadamia farm market review, 2023
Hi Daniel, Congratulations! Will be looking forward to many more videos from you. I know, its totally inappropriate for this video, what am going to ask you about; but I hope to get some suggestions. Am from India, from south whre the temperatures can get quite high in summer months ( March, April, May) might even touch 45 deg celcius. The lowest can be around the winter months ( Dec, Jan , feb), which is around 28 deg celcius. In a nutshell an average day temperature during the year varies between 30 to 40 deg celsius and night temperature varies from 24 to 32 deg celcius. There are exceptions during summer months where it might touch 45 deg for a couple of weeks. Am very much interested to start Macadamia farm, i own reasonable amount of land. My issue is that people in India started supply seedlings/ grafted plants but none could gave a satisfactory answer regarding the correct variety to plant for my climatic conditions. There are few people in our area which has same temperature, has planted macadamia ( the variety they call here is 816). Its been 2 years since they have planted and the vegetative growth so far is good among them but weather they can be able bear the fruit or not still need to be seen, probably in 18 to 24 months. Am in a big dilemma on what to do. Am simply hoping if you can shed some light on this. I know different country, different conditions, its not fair on my part to expect a startight answer. But I know you from your videos that you are an honest man , never backs down to share anything regarding macademia farming. Since Australia can be quite hot ( i have heard the temperatures can go very high) can you please mention the varities that are grown in hot Australia conditions. Atleast thats a start for me !
Hi Daniel, thanks for the video. Chatting to my agronomist this week regarding the fungus in the flower issue, he says it’s not really a problem in small trees as with husk spot? How is the baby parade flower going? My babies are flowering very heavily on the trees >4/6 YO after last years application of compost.
Hi why some tree cut
Thanks for the wonderful information. I manage our family orchard in north of Iran with about 30% of it with Macadamia trees, and I could feel and absorb every bit of information you gave. Wish you a blessed harvest, and thanks again 🙏🏼 💐🙌🏼
@@ParadiseGardenOrganics Iran! Wow. You must be a true believer - I’d love to know more of your story about how you came to grow macadamias there. Very impressive!
@nutkinfarm As for the macadamia trees, they have been planted in Iran since some decades ago, and sadly, they are nearly all planted from seeds, and you can't find good quality grafted plants here. Our trees are about 15 years old now and we it is the 4th year that many of them are bearing fruits. It seems they are from several varieties, which sadly I can't tell which is which 🤦🏻♂️ but some have really big and hood quality nuts. Our trees blossom usually twice a year, which is not necessarily a good thing, but it seems they like our mild autumn and winters.
I wrote my answer in 2 messages today but can't see the first one here. Anyway, in case you haven't received it, let me know and I will write it again. 🙌🏼💐
@@ParadiseGardenOrganics it all seems there to me - thanks again. You seem to be doing well with the limitations you have! Keep it up :-)
We call it dry flower. We are gearing up to spray for it in the next couple of weeks. We have been spraying Merivon for about 4 years now. It's basically Cabrio with an extra chemical. I think we will stick with the tractor sprayer set-up the coverage just can't be replicated by a drone.
@@trentneumann5788 Makes sense to me. They did mention dry flower as a Queensland thing - bit different to this new “rat tail”. I suspected the Merivon news would be a yawn to many, but considering the need to rotate fungicides, is it really best to blow the (reportedly) best fungicide on flower blight? What’s left to use on husk spot a couple of months later?
@nutkinfarm we do rotate Merivon/Cabrio with another fungicide. It's always best practice not to spray the same chemicals more than 2 times in a row. We had a demo of autonomous sprayer with gps guidance and obstacle avoidance technology, and you had to do was fill it when it came back to you. Let's just say the tree canopy was not its friend. For a $200k+ piece of gear it still needed a lot more R&D
The way I look at it. You pay maybe $15k for a drone to spray top down. Or you pay $90k for a tractor and $40k for an airblaster to spray up from the bottom.
@@kdegraa if only it were that simple. The problem is that if a $15K drone doesn’t do the job, it’s a waste of $15K and a loss of crop.
@@kdegraa $7,000 will get you a decent TTI hand sprayer for younger trees. You can get a 90HP tractor for around $60,000
Nice work Daniel, they are predicting a wet spring/ flooding this year.
Last I heard they were backing off on the La Nina prediction, but sounds like I need to update my reading!
@@nutkinfarm yes we need the dry or normal to come back Interesting the drones are definitely the way of the future but with a 40L spray tank it makes me wonder how many times you would have to refill it on say 1000 trees.
I hope not. Sick of this damn wet weather.
@@kdegraa I was slashing a couple of blocks this last week and, despite all our recent westerlies, it’s still wet in places. I reckon the water table is full.
@@mattikelby5571 This concerned me too. Some sprays could surely be concentrated for drone use, but others (often fungicides and contact insecticides) are "coverage" or "blanket" sprays. The rep said they're working on drones that spray up, but surely that'd put downward pressure on the drone? A lot of "watch this space" yet to come, I think.
Older trees look good Daniel, congratulations on a half decade of macadamia farming. When are the big projects coming up regarding row removal and such?
@@mattikelby5571 thanks mate, appreciated. I have a little earthworks project under way first, but hopefully some progress on the fun stuff this season.
Congrats on 5 years, Daniel. All looking good there with your trees. I certainly look forward to your informative and entertaining videos. Here's to the next 5 years 🍾
@@gregorypmullins Thanks Greg - I’ll keep doing them so long as they help or interest people!
khu vườn mắc ca rộng lớn quá, rất đẹp😊
Your tree health has definitely improved since you first started posting videos, thats the benefit of videoing your orchard. I regularly film from the ground and also gather aerial drone footage in the orchard I look after, as it helps to detect small changes in tree health and in the canopy before and after pruning. Then, approximately 6 months later to check the progress.
@@patrickrushtonAussierider that’s a really good practice - when you see things regularly it’s harder to notice incremental changes like that.
Hello from Cambodia, I have 3 years old of Macadamia farm but it's doesn't produce fruit yet.
@@boratsaroeun that’s great. Keep it up, the nuts will come!
Thank you for the informative content Daniel!
@@MacSMdotOrg you’re welcome - I’ll keep it coming.
i have done bachelor of agriculture science degree in India and I'm very fluent to communicate in english language and my dream to do farming macadamia ❤
I encourage you to try, but be very careful about the climate limitations of growing macadamias in India. There may be parts of the south where it could work, but you need professional help to start.
i want to work with you to gain experience about macadamia farming can you please sponsor me to get visa and get work experience with you ❤️
Already answered Pradeep.
@@nutkinfarm but firstly i want to work with you to can please sponsor me to work in your farm 🙏
@@pradeeppatel1975 I don't actually have any employees, so I can't sponsor one Pradeep. Maybe another subscriber here will be interested.
i want to work with you to gain experience about macadamia farming can you please sponsor me to get visa and get work experience with you ❤️
Sorry Pradeep, I can't employ anyone in my particular farm operation. As mentioned in my answer to a similar comment of yours, I use contractors where needed but don't employ anyone by myself.
hello brother can you please provide plant I'm from India 🇮🇳 i want to do macadamia farming
Hi - I'm not permitted by our laws to ship live plant material overseas. If you google macadamia farm consultants in Australia you may find a way.
hey my friend i want to work with you can please give me any farming job i have done bachelor of agriculture science from India
Hi - I don't have any employees at Nutkin Farm, sorry - I just get in contractors for the things I can't do myself. I'm flattered that you would ask! Cheers.
Have maca farm prices dropped? You still need at least a million dollars to buy one.
It's a change from 2 million Karl! OK, maybe not that much in all cases but I have some good anecdotal evidence.
Hi, thanks for the video!! Can you suggest or shed some light on how to findout if the plant we are buying is good for commercial plantation. We are thinking of starting in India.
Hi there. I’d really need some specific details on the variety, but honestly I’m not the right person to advise on how well it would grow in India. Your best approach would be to google for macadamia consultants and ask if any of them have provided services in India.
@@nutkinfarm Thank you for the help. Cheers
What is the minimum height I keep a macadamia tree pruned to, in a small backyard and still have it Fruit?
@@shaagarey469 I’d just be guessing, but since my babies get fruit at under 2 metres you could probably keep a tree at that height. You’d want to let it spread sideways a bit or your crop would be very small.
A little car is pretty handy on a farm for going to town and back. Our Nissan Micra was fine as a farm car but could not do everything a maca farmer needs to do. When I hired equipment it was delivered and picked up which cost extra. The little Micra could not tow. We hired a van to transport trees from a nursery to our farm. We recently bought a new car, a Toyota RAV4. We bought it in the hope it will be okay for city and country driving. We had a tow bar fitted and it’s much bigger in the back than the Nissan. It actually uses less fuel than our old car because it’s a hybrid. The only downside is it expensive, more expensive than our tractor. So I don’t have much money to spend on farm stuff. However what I have on the farm should be enough though I think I will buy a flail mower to crush the setaria grass.
For an SUV that doesn't chew through too much fuel but could survive the bush, I like your choice of a RAV4 Karl. I doubt you could tow a large farm machine with it but it could probably handle a zero turn mower on a box trailer or something.
@@nutkinfarm the only reason I can think I’d need to tow a machine would be to take it to a mechanic for repair. There is no way I could tow a tractor with a RAV4 but yes I could probably tow a smaller vehicle on a trailer. My farm is only around 4km out of town so it’s not too expensive to get stuff towed or delivered. The RAV4 should tow a little trailer full of stuff. We’d only tow into the local town and maybe sometimes up to Coffs. It’s a good car to drive on the highway. The driving assistance functions include adaptive cruise control & lane assistance so it basically drives itself.
Hi Karl, when I spoke to my accountant last year she informed me that a dual cab ute up to a value of $68,000 could be purchased as a tax deduction🤔 1ton bulk a bag in the back of a Toyota Corolla isn’t going to go too well.
@@mattikelby5571 yeah we thought about getting a ute. However we really only want one car and a ute is a bit difficult to drive around the city.
Boeing 737-800 😂
I drive an Isuzu Ute/Bakkie with a canopy. I transport most of my own requirements. I pull a fair size trailer when required.
Good point Greg - I should have talked about towing a bit. I think a ute/bakkie with a canopy is a good mix of capabilities for a maca farmer.
Interesting, thanks for video. I'm a bit surprised there aren't some growers selling direct to public for reasonable prices. I did find some but their prices seem to be much higher than the supermarket (eg. Brother Mountain Macadamias $70/kg !) Compared to the Farmer Coop factory price (in the middle of Macadamia territory), the supermarket price doesn't seem too bad at around 50% higher.
Good points George. I think there'd be more farm gate sales if shelling the nuts was a little easier - for either the farmer or the customer. Once processors get the nuts for shelling, you generally can't get them back.
Thanks, for 25 yrs neighbours cows smash every property around here and they've got away with it,,I mean they haven't even parted with a steak for anybody,,,well one kicked the quarter panel off my gf,s car and the neighbour is denying it's her cows on the public road also where the damage occurred,,they are the only ppl to have cattle, I chased 17 of their untagged unbranded animals out ,,can't believe this woman is trying to deny everything
Nick, if even half of that can be proven, this situation looks like something the new law can be used for to help your community. Best wishes - Daniel
Hi Daniel, long time lurker, I thought it was about time I added my 2c. Thanks for covering many different topics relating to macadamia farms. I look after a farm in the northern rivers. From my experience, top working the trees and then grafting on a new variety have been unsuccessful due to wind damage breaking off the newly grafted wood, even after 2 years of growth. South Africa must have a calmer climate. Sunburn to the trunk of the tree being grafted to, Root death and wood rot from lack of photosynthesis from the new graft and nurse branches. The trees in question were about 30 years old, owns choice on H2 rootstock. They have since been removed completely and replaced.
Thanks for sharing this. I would have thought top working would work but there are many factors that make it difficult for the grafted tree to survive.
Hi Patrick. The most valuable 2 cents I've seen in some time - sincere thanks. Experience is so valuable. In this case it confirms my fears. I should add - for completeness - that Chris Searle advocates painting the topworked stumps with white acrylic paint to prevent sunburn.
From memory, I painted the new graft and the exposed trunk when the graft was done. These parts of the tree hadn't seen direct sunlight in many years. From experience and discussion with others, Macadamia trees should be progressively re-hardened to the full exposure of the sunlight. UV protection sprays such as a wetable clay, envy etc, are a good solution if taking out trees/rows immediately and the remaining trees hadn't had time to re-harden to the sunlight especially if they have not seen full sunlight in years. Try to do any canopy work over winter or early spring as it helps to reduce the risk of sunburn. If a macadamia tree gets badly sunburnt (leaves or bark)it can take years for it to regrow fresh leaves instead of producing nuts, or the bark can split and fall off making it easier for borers to burrow in.
Blancmange, living on the ceiling. I thought the song had a good dance beat though.😊
Oh Golden, I knew we were kindred spirits! Yes, I admit I did dance to it, back in the day.
I want more video
Here is some advice if you or someone can challenge: 1. The Australian Constitution states where Federal law and state law conflict, Federal law prevails. Why does it not say that if state law and local council ruling conflict, that state law prevails? BECAUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The constitution states there shall only be federal and state government. Thus any legislation which creates a third tier of government is invalid. Local Council has NIL LAWFUL AUTHORITY. I bet they don't want this challenged in the high court. Only a referendum can create a third tier of government. 2. Is it state law or policy that says the farms in the area can't be subdivided?? If it is law, local council could not over rule if even if they were a legitimate tier of government. 3. I would imagine, putting the above aside, that the land and environment court would rule in favour of the state government policy, as they MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE INTENTION OF THE LEGISLATOR. Or the intention of the government when making the policy. In this case the purpose is clear, so courts should not subvert the goal of preserving this as rare and valuable farmland for the needs of the food security of the country. Technical loopholes have no weight in the above argument. 4. A class action by the community could stop this happening on a wide scale. Or even an individual as a member of the community. Perhaps the cart fund raising and a sensible local lawyer who sees the importance of farmland can assist for small fee.
Hi Glen. I'm aware of those arguments. Local councils exercise powers delegated by the state government. Even though they have no constitutional status, that delegation process is legal enough. The election of councillors directly by the population is a more troublesome area conceptually but probably OK. Just my opinion though. You're completely entitled to yours and I respect it.
It was a little sad to see parts of loose goose and stockade being removed this week when I was there. Including the original grays nursery and dehusking sheds. It’s going to look very different in 5 years. In some ways I agree with others that serious nut production is now better suited to places like Bundy.
I understand your view Tim. People look at the large expanses in Bundy and it all looks a lot more logical to farm macadamias there. Until it doesn't. I've nothing against that area, but if it already requires irrigation to work in 2024 then what happens when the world heats more? What's it look like in the next drought or cyclone? The northern rivers is in many ways the more ideal climate. But even if not macadamias, changing the land-use to residential when so many other foods could be grown on that land...
I also wonder whether governments are considering the long term as far as protecting prime agricultural land from housing development. Also I understand in Bundaberg where mining may adversely affect underground water used by macadamia farmers. On another video you mention a macadamia tree called stupid, what variety is it or you haven’t determined that?
Hi John! I'm pretty sure Stupid is an H2, but thanks for reminding me to go get some nuts and look for the tell-tale husk adhesion. As to your other point - farming land should be the protected land use against all other purposes. You may be aware that in Queensland there are many approvals for solar farms on prime land, which must be the most misplaced environmentalism I've seen to date.
Great video, Daniel! Thank-you. A nice look at that Lindendale farm again. There are so many good farms in the Northern Rivers it really is a shame to have it subdivided like that. Here in Japan they do something similar, chop up the side of a mountain (not farmland as that is protected and heavily subsidised), with great views, and build a 'holiday house community' with strata titles. Much smaller blocks than what you are talking about. Some of these communities are very beautiful but are not so popular as the houses age. And Japan is still very centralised in terms of residential population so not many even want to 'go bush’. Even after the COVID years.... But I hope the Byron Shire works out some alternative to help protect farmland. The Byron Hinterland is very special. It is hard to compare it to other farming areas in Australia. It’s more than just a row of trees on the side of a hill. It is a beautiful oasis of lush green and rolling hills. It provides valuable food. I know the bottom line is important, but as you said, I also think people need to keep in mind that once it’s gone, it’s gone. And it might encourage more subdivision...?
The 'domino effect' that ends up with the extinction of a farm community is like anything else really. Even in Sydney there were huge market gardening areas around Hoxton Park and Liverpool that got eroded away and developed for housing. Everyone said don't worry, we can get all the stuff from Queensland or elsewhere - and then they wondered why prices jacked up nationwide.
Interesting topic! Town planners create zones to minimise conflict. Surely local councils need to be empowered by state to create defensible farming areas. In this case Byron might feel that it needs more residential and determine the best areas for this to happen. Not perfect, but at least you keep the developers on a leash! A few observations though. Macadamias are food, but it is difficult to argue that they are an essential part of our diet. Healthy and nutritious treat that due to costs of producing will remain a treat for most of us. Which brings us to the next point. It's difficult to beat the markets. If Macadamias were profitable then those farms would have sold to farmers. They didn't because they lack economies of scale, they haven't had long term investment, the next generation of buyers aren't interested in pouring their off farm income and all their leisure time into a very low margin enterprise. Take a trip to Bundaberg and see farms on flat country with good soil and an irrigation scheme where tree counts begin at 10000 and rise to 100000 per unit. Long straight rows of the latest varieties that will churn out 4t/ha at 15 years. 3 or 4 thousand 40 year old and 15m tall H varieties on the side of a hill just can't make it in today's world as a stand alone enterprise. They are made even less viable when a "tree changer' is prepared and capable of paying $2 million for the house site with a view. The trees are just there to these people but their buying power prevents the few gen Z's who might be interested from getting involved. And there in a 'nutshell' you have most of the issues society faces and some of the reasons gen z are so depressed!
Hi Dan , very interesting take. If I may, can I send you a link on a small hobby farm, that my wife and I are thinking of purchasing as a nice place to live ( not so much as an enterprise) just as a nice hobby. I would like your opinion on this farm 1. Will it have Primary Producer status. 2. It will give me an (in) to the Macadamia industry as a very interested small producer 3. At my age I think I could run this small holding, as will have a lot of support from my family.
Hi Ron! Happy to help. Google up Nutkin Farm and you'll find how to reach me :-)
Ian, you make some good points. In reality the purchase of farms has been largely out of locals' reach in the northern rivers for a while. People like me swan in from Sydney and... you know the rest. But at least when you stop destruction of farmland you're not affecting supply as well as demand.
@@nutkinfarm I sent you a WhatsApp
Real Estate agents and developers have a lot to answer for ! Forcing prices up to their advantage
The Howard Nugget slashers are made in Korea.
Oh, that’s disappointing Frank.
Very interesting to see all the equipment there, Daniel. I’ve just returned from a two day visit to our Grain South Africa annual exhibition, NAMPO. Absolutely mind blowing seeing the various types, makes and sizes of equipment available. Prices are mind blowing too😋 We have the multi-one available in SA but I haven’t seen the Robmac brand here. I’ll have a look out for it. NAMPO is definitely an exhibition any farm equipment/product manufacturer would want to be at if they want exposure in the SA market. Thanks again for the informative and interesting post, as always.
Good to know, Greg - thank you!
We really never do grow out of our Tonka toys, do we? ]:) Looks like a fun day out.
The boys all look like they’re containing their excitement but there was no fooling me Scruff ;-)
Thanks for the shout out! Yes my Club Car is similar to the green on for sale at $26k. It’s a good machine. We bought ours second hand for around $7k. I’ll have to spend money on ours soon as the front end is a bit worn out. The Primex field day looks good but there don’t seem to be very many people there. The idea of using plants to improve the soil sounds great. I’d be keen to learn more but I’ll have deal with the grass currently there. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Tocal field day. It was a lot busier than your day at Primex. We went there on a Saturday which could be why it was busier. I’m in the market for a flail mower to attach to my tractor and being able to talk to a large number of sales people selling them was of great value. Being able to compare what they said and listen to different points of view was great. I’ve pretty well settled on an Italian made mower which has hydraulic side shift that will hopefully help with mowing the grass between the trees.
Hi Karl. Glad I got it right - I couldn't remember for the life of me whether you'd said Club Car or Club Cadet. Do you know where they're made? They seem kind of American in style. Poor old Primex was almost a wash-out in heavy rain on its first day. I was videoing about an hour before closing on the second day, partly to avoid the earlier crowds. Your expo sounds good too - they really generate some ideas, don't they.
@@nutkinfarm my Club Car CarryAll 295 is a 2007 model. It was made by Ingersoll Rand in the USA which owned Club Car. I think the company was sold and I think they are still made in the USA. It’s a fairly basic machine in a lot of ways, simply but well built and thought out. It’s basically a simple car. I really do not know why these vehicles are so expensive. You can still buy a car for $25k. It will be basic but will have power steering, power windows, rear view mirrors, airbags, air conditioning, a decent head unit with blue tooth and so on. Meanwhile a farm car at this price does not have a windscreen.
@@kdegraa other than a volume equation I can’t see why the expense either, Karl. There’s plenty of competition in that space too. For my money I’d look at a Kawasaki Mule but the Club Cars were nicely understated - I liked them.
One of our farms sent 2 trucks to marquis it came back at 16% and 18%, thankfully the farm I'm on the worst so far is 4% but we are now below 1%.
Ouch Trent. That’s a large reject percentage. What specifically was the reject coming from? Immaturity?
@nutkinfarm that was about 7% the rest was insect damage and black nut. They race through 100 tonnes a day they need to slow down and do it properly or install more sorting tables. Also, it doesn't help when 1 harvester can pick up over 15t a day. Plus, we have more trees coming into production, but the sheds aren't getting upgraded to handle the load.
Hi Daniel, it’s nice to see your acknowledging that macadamias can handle water, if it goes away. The mounding does not do anything once that soil reaches an ongoing saturation point as observed in 2022, variety and localised soil conditions appear to contribute to tree death from my observations.
2022 sure taught us a lot. I was more amused that in 1976 farmers were told to not let macadamias even fall on the ground!
@@nutkinfarm they didn’t know what was going on back then
How does all that leaf lotter on the floor interfere with harvesting? Does that clog up the finger wheels?
Hi Brett. The leaf litter certainly can be a pest with harvesters. The wheel design scrapes a lot of it off but eventually it can clog up. At that point the operator stops harvesting and manually pulls out the build-up. After harvests it’s often worth going over the blocks with a mower just to break leaves up and minimise downtime on the next round.
Hi Daniel, I’ve been looking at TH-cam (as usual) AMS have been trialling tree shaking as part of the harvest process, are they still doing it and is there farms still using this harvesting method. My take on it is that it will shorten the orchard/tree harvesting time, but my concern is that the harvest will contain many immature nuts which wouldn’t be good for the bottom line, I would imagine. Might be a presentation in this for one of your programs. Cheers Ron HOLBROW
Hi Ron! I admit, it's a hole in my coverage of issues, and one I'd like to fill. The problem is getting actual footage of it. Very few farmers use them in NSW - they're more a large volume Queensland thing. But maybe I'll do one regardless... the concern you raise is one issue, but there are others too. Thanks for the suggestion.
When the price are low the Nis to China prices offer are higher has the price rises the prices offer get more even a cross the process. So maybe a higher farm get price is better all around. Need to be at a fix price also.
Thanks Christopher. I have a big issue with notional pricing. Surely the farmer faces enough risks without also having to buffer the risk of who he sells his crop to.
It would be a serious mistake to rely on a _single destination_ export market, no matter how tempting the prices look at first glance... because they _won't_ last. When the local processors disappear, so will the favourable prices from China. They may even buy up the processing plant and ship it back to China (just like they did with rare earth mineral processing, turning that into an effective monopoly). Chinese consumers may prefer their nuts in shell, but that doesn't mean they won't _happily_ sell Australian nuts back to Australia (just as they do with seafood).
The dangers all seem there Damon. It's true that China loves our macas, but the real truth is that China just loves nuts of all kinds. The massive increase in NIS export to China partly reflects that macadamias became cheaper than almonds and out-competed them. Which sounds OK, until you remind yourself that the price was less than the cost of our production and we could never compete with almond production costs anyway.
70% of Australian Macadamias are exported. I don't think the home market was short of Kernel, the export market was, but what did they expect at $1.50/kg? We were losing market share in our primary kernel buyers ( S Korean, Japan, Taiwan) before 2023.We abandoned Europe and USA, largely because of timezones, and a calve up ( behind closed doors) that gifted premium markets to Africa. Think WMO, who we still support via a processor levy that I assume is passed back to growers via a slightly lower price. SA farm gate prices were considerably better (30%) in 2023 and 2022, and they were above ours in previous years. Why? Do they just market it better than us ( or are our processors overheads far higher?) SA is predominantly Beaumont variety.As I understand it, this is a somewhat crinkled shell, average size, middle road kernel variety that grows well in SA. I guess having majority variety gives a more consistent product than our 10+ Hawaiian, 6 or so A varieties and the named ones. We're still losing money at $3.00. The processors are not. If they want growers, they need a plan because just asking us to lose money to support long-term kernel is insane. When will it end? I'm happy to support kernel if they have a plan. Are they branding product. Do they have control over sales organisation. What is their point of difference to kernel buyers. What are they doing to address inefficient processing.??? We should know because growers pay for everything- in the end. Not only are growers being asked to take a haircut to support kernel, they also have to wait up to 14 months for their money. I appreciate that they have to wait for their money, But, as you correctly pointed out, we have weekly labour and monthly input bills, including servicing debt at 7%. It's outrageous that normal business terms are EOM and our cash inflow is on the drip. If processors want to borrow money from growers, that's fine, so long as they pay market rate interest on it. I do understand that if you supply SGM or the 'tent' and are a shareholder you might see a dividend. But the dividend is only paid if they run an efficient operation, you'll still pay interest on the free loan because your bank is not a charity. It's not easy being a processor, and we have no real route to market without them, so we need to be careful. To be clear I want to work with processors. However I think we growers need to be consistent and united in our requests that they become more transparent in business and share their vision for the future.
Ian, many fine points in what you've said. The price is still really too low for any wriggle room to take an even lower offer to support processors whose terms are hardly friendly to work with. But I do worry about how we're supposed to compete if the Chinese NIS operation corners the market, kills off any competition and leaves us worse off than we are now. Not sure there's an answer, yet.
Sh!t it sounds grim being a grower when put in those terms.
Hi Daniel, have the weeds been bad for you this year? The farm at modanville next to the school, the trees there haven’t grown in the 15years I have regularly been driving past, that brown soil looks familiar.
I'm not sure whether it's the same one, but the trees didn't seem super healthy. I'd never shown Modanville on the channel before, though, so a minor point of interest. The weeds are thick in the wetter areas but not tall. It's not chickweed, thank God. Chickweed is the enemy of all macadamia harvesters!
@@nutkinfarm kidney weed and farmers friends are out of control here. The trees look fine to me. Is it time Nutkin puts in a A203?
@@mattikelby5571 next time I come to do gaps, my short list is 849 and A203. Maybe a few more Ps too.
I think your co-op guy you talked about has the right idea, start selling direct to whomever and cut-out the processors for the time being. That will force the local processors to be more friendly to the farmers. Perhaps that is whats needed for the Aussie Mac farmers.
It might be part of the answer Ron. I still think the AMS needs to be a grower society though. Housing the processors under the same umbrella protects them from criticism over a lot of unfair conditions... notional prices, delayed payment schemes, penalties that seem more like traps.. there's just no advocacy at all.
tôi là một nông dân đang trồng cây mắc ca ở việt nam, tôi hiểu sự phát triển của cây mắc ca và nó mang lại cây che mát, khu rừng tự nhiên và tốt cho môi trường. mong rằng xẽ có nhiều người biết tới cây mắc ca và sử dụng chúng để cây này có thể phát triển khắp thế giới
Hi mate, I enjoy watching your videos, looking forward to the next one
Thanks Brett! There’ll be a new one next week.