The Nutworks journey began way back in 1993 when four Sunshine Coast macadamia growers joined forces to build a processing plant at Verrierdale in the Noosa Hinterland. The processing plant allowed them to offer a better supply of hand-sorted raw kernels to local shop keepers who then roasted, flavoured and sold them to the public.
The success of supplying raw kernels for others was so great that in 1996 Nutworks built a bigger processing plant in addition to a café, retail shop and tourist facility in Yandina, offering not only greater production levels, but also the opportunity to educate the public on the macadamia and its journey from farm to plate while developing its own products for retail sale.
As of July 2022 Nutworks employs more than 50 staff across three sites and exports its products to 14 countries across the world. In 2022, Nutworks processed over 5,000 tonnes of macadamia nut. This represented approximately 9% of the Australian crop, sourced from more than 80 Australian macadamia farms.
The luxurious, creamy, premium macadamia nuts at the heart of our Nutworks products are the result of years of planning from our growers. A macadamia tree takes five years to grow to the point where its nuts are ready to harvest.
Native bees play an important part in pollination, so our farmers also provide hives on their farms to encourage the bees to work their magic on their crops and the bushland surrounding their farms.
Our farmers use special machinery to harvest the nuts once they’ve fallen off the trees. They remove the outside husks from the nuts before shipping out the raw material to Nutworks for processing. Some nuts have their shells removed and are then roasted, flavoured or used for chocolate treats and confectionery. Others are used for macadamia oil and now, many are sold with shells still on with a special key supplied to make it easier for customers to crack their own nuts at home. All products are packaged on site ready for sale on either the domestic or overseas market.
At Nutworks, the environment and the sustainability of our industry is important to us. We’ve developed processes to make use of every element of the macadamia nut, from shell to kernel, to the meal created in processing.
Our Grower Liaisons work with our macadamia growers to help minimise the amount of pesticides used on farm. Using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach ensures pesticide applications are only used after cultural and biological control measures are first considered when controlling the insect pests on farm.
Our Nutworks team works with our farmers to create the right environment for the bees that pollinate the trees, and the biochar created by burning leftover shells is put back into the soil to enrich and improve the land after each harvest.
https://nutworks.com.au/