On-farm evaluation of a new paradigm for almond drying and storage: Australia 2019 harvest

摘要

Almonds have traditionally been partially dried on the tree, shaken to the ground for finish drying and then swept into rows for collection. Once picked up, the almonds are stored in stockpiles until they can be processed. A new paradigm is to shake and catch the almonds, then remove their hulls and place the inshell almonds into aerated silos for finish drying and storage awaiting processing. This new paradigm has many advantages for almond growers. The almonds are taken out of the orchard earlier,thus reducing the risk of weather, insect and pest damage. The almonds are not dropped onto the soil and this reduces contamination. The removal of the hulls will halve their storage volume. Finally, aerated silo dehydration can control the final kernelmoisture content to the desired value and storage of almonds in a silo protects the almonds from the weather and pests.A farm-scale adoption of this new paradigm occurred in Australia during the 2019 harvest. It was observed that the ideal time to harvest the almonds was just after full hull split. During the trial the equipment used for hulling could create more than 80% inshell for the Wood Colony and Monterey almonds prior to them being fully dried but only 65% inshell for the dried Nonpareil almonds. It was found that air separation could only remove 50% of the detached hulls. Progressive filling and finish drying of the almonds in silos was observed to be a viable process. Whilst there are improvements to be made to the process, it was seen that this new paradigm can be an on-farm reality.