With the almond industry expected to grow by 30 per cent in the next five years, a backlog of crops heading to processors is expected. This will allow farmers to dry their harvest on site. Photos: Andrew Fisher
A new business venture designed to save almond farmers energy costs when drying their crop is being developed in Albury and Mildura and aims to impact Victorian almond growers throughout Victoria.
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Andrew Fisher operates Harveston Aeration Solutions and has been able to capitalise on start-up investment money to bring his expertise in grain storage to a whole new industry.
The inspiration for the company is relatively new, with Andrew first initiating the concept late last year.
“We were just an idea in September last year, established a company in December and here we are in May 2023 fully embedded in our research and looking ahead,” Andrew said, who found inspiration also from the heavy rainfall.
“In the last two years the harvest has been diabolically late, so we ask ourselves ‘what do we do with wet almonds’?”
A trial experimental drying ring set up on Harveston's Smart Farm. The results from the trials have produced industry-standard dried kernels by using only 60 per cent of electricity.
At present, Harveston is churning through the numbers from research experiments which have produced more than promising results, with Andrew saying the company was getting their expectations well met.
“We surprised ourselves with the results,” Andrew said.
“We lowered whole almond moisture from 25 per cent down to 11 per cent and for just the almond kernel from 10 per cent to five and a half per cent, both of which are what’s acceptable by industry standards.
“We learnt that too much air is possible but most importantly we found that after two days of drying at just 60 per cent of maximum fan speed for two days, we got the almonds dried just as good.”
The results have gained the attention of other growers with two members of the industry at a local field day surprised at how much the new process could save on electricity.
“Instead of waiting for harvests to dry in the field, with this system you can shake, sweep and fully harvest with leaves and all and still have a deliverable product in 21 days.”
An almond stockpile awaiting drying and processing. Victoria produces 65 per cent of Australia's almond harvest, worth about $500 million each year.
With the industry expected to increase by 30 per cent over the next five years, and no increase in the number of processing facilities, the typical timeline of rushing a crop straight to processing will be relaxed and allow farmers to dry their crop efficiently on their own property.
“Processing is done normally in August and September, but one processor is now having their incoming crops pushed back to November,” Andrew said.
“This is driving the need for on-farm storage and therefore allowing more time to dry the crop.”
Almond shells can be used in stockfeed as a harvest byproduct but come with the risk of spontaneous combustion. There have been two such fires in Victoria in the past two years. Harveston believes it has a practical solution to reduce this risk.
Another side to the almond story is the storage of byproducts, with 60 to 80 per cent of any harvest being used in stock feed as a high source of dietary fibre.
Storage of the byproduct can pose a fire risk, with one Riverland fire destroying a semi-trailer two years ago.
Harveston has a developing plan for reducing that risk.
“We are developing other technology for global use to help with byproduct storage,” Andrew said.
“We know the technology; we just need to deliver the structure for that.
“But we are well down the track on that one.”
A driving force behind Harveston is the contributions from UniSA, and Andrew has high praise for Industry Professor of Mechanical Engineering John Fielke.
“It was John who initially gave us the idea and he has been very helpful with this; however, he is also a very pragmatic and practical person.”
Despite Andrew’s enthusiasm which overflows when he talks about the new company, that practical approach remains his mainstay.
“There’s only so much venture capital out there and at present we are interviewing for prospective board members as we build this company up,” he said.
