Deane Stahmann Jr. passes the torch
The changing of the guard marks the end of an era ....
Winter Promotion Winners
Congratulations to our winners ....
INAUGURAL DEANE STAHMANN SCHOLARSHIP OPEN
The Deane Stahmann scholarship was established in 2008 to provide Australian pecan growers ....
Pecan Processing
Nut-in-shell (NIS) is delivered by road train to the Stahmann Farms plant where it is unloaded, weighed and recorded with a batch number that identifies the product right through to the end user.
NIS is sanitised before being dried by a process of dehumidification at low temperature in a bank of dryers. This low-impact technique is critical to the preservation of optimum kernel quality.
After drying, the quality management process is initiated with samples of NIS taken for testing and hand crack-outs, which also provide growers with early indications of expected kernel yield.
Sizing of NIS at this point is a key to maximizing kernel recovery and the percentage yield of 'wholes'. Process-ready nut-in-shell is then stored in dehumidified cold-storage warehouses until required for processing.
A bank of custom-built, speed-controlled crackers processes the NIS which is then fed continuously onto screens which size the resulting kernel. These crackers - calibrated to match flow rates and size and quality of NIS - produce exceptionally low rates of uncracked product requiring re-processing. Remaining shell is separated out first by aspiration, then by laser sorting, and finally by finishing room staff who manually inspect the product prior to packing.
Each processing run is uniquely customized to accommodate the individual requirements of the client and the variety of the crop. Maximising returns for nut-in-shell through industry-leading kernel recovery rates, Stahmann Farms is setting a new standard in processing technology and methodology.
