Almonds might rule the roost in Australian nut production, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total tree nut production area, and macadamias might be the high-value glam nut in the market, but producers and consumers are increasingly going nuts over multiple other varieties. In this issue, Australian Tree Crop takes a look at some of the other nuts making their mark.

Pecans

Australian pecan production is set to keep growing over the next decade as more plantings come into full bearing, a process that takes ten years or more. The national orchard area currently stands at 2165ha, producing around 3825 tonnes nut-in-shell (1900 tonnes kernel equivalent), with production expected to reach 4600 tonnes nut-in-shell (2300 tonnes kernel) by 2030 as the Stahmann family’s long-established Trawalla orchards, other newer smaller orchards (an additional 430ha), and recent plantings by Stahmann Webster all come online. Pecans are extremely long-lived and remain highly productive for more than a century, making them a genuine long-term investment, and new orchards are trending toward closer spacings, up to 360 trees/ha against the traditional 200, to lift yield without expanding the orchard footprint. Rising input costs are also pushing growers toward solar power generation, computer-monitored irrigation and more targeted chemical use to protect margins.

The bulk of the crop is grown under irrigation in the Gwydir Valley near Moree, with smaller plantings across the NSW coast and Central Queensland, and small holdings in SA and WA. Stahmann Webster operates Australia’s largest pecan processing plant, in Toowoomba, supplying in-shell and kernel product domestically and overseas, while a number of smaller processors are entering the market focused on the organic and regenerative farming segment. An increasing number of orchards are also becoming organic certified. Most Australian pecans are sold as kernel into the domestic market, split between retail and manufacturing buyers.

Being counter-seasonal to the US and Mexico, which together supply 87 per cent of the global crop, gives Australian growers a harvest window that lands fresh product in export markets ahead of Christmas and Chinese New Year. South Africa continues to expand production and now accounts for about 8 per cent of the global crop, with smaller volumes also grown in Central and South America. The Australian industry is also free of the scab disease that troubles US orchards, and much of the crop is grown without chemical pesticides. Export value reached $4.6 million in 2024 (from $23 million total production) and is forecastto grow to $6 million by 2030, though tariffs may tempergrowth in the short term. 

Pistachios

Australian pistachio consumption reached 5500 tonnesin-shell in 2024, up from 3200 tonnes in 2010, tracking the broader shift toward plant-based snacking. Production is concentrated along the Murray River Valley between Swan Hill and Waikerie, with further plantings at Pinnaroo, central-west Victoria and the Riverina.

The 55 pistachio growers nationally, ranging from 5ha to 400ha operations, farmed 3000ha in 2024 for a crop of 4400 tonnes, small next to the roughly 1.3 million tonnes produced by the US, Iran and Türkiye combined. Because pistachios bear in alternate years, 2025 output fell back to around 3000 tonnes. With up to 250ha of new plantings annually over the next five years, the industry expects to reach 4500ha and 12,000 tonnes in-shell by 2030, worth $110 million at the farm gate. Part of the appeal for growers is the crop’s hardiness: pistachios tolerate drought, poor soil and water, resist common orchard pests and diseases, and have a long productive tree life.

Fully mechanised production keeps Australian growers internationally competitive, and Robinvale’s processing facility, expanded with a second plant in 2024, gives the industry a central point for standardising quality. Most of the crop is consumed as a snack food, though use in baking and food service is expanding steadily. Domestic production is expected to exceed domestic consumption within a few years, opening the door to faster export growth, helped by the industry’s proximity to Asian markets and the Australian-bred Sirora variety. Over the past 25 years the Pistachio Growers’ Association has led industry research, funded by industry and matched by the Australian government through Hort Innovation, much of it focused on Sirora, helping producers reach international best practice.

Chestnuts

Australian chestnut production was valued at $8.2 million at the farm gate in 2024, from 1100 tonnes in-shell grown across around 310,000 trees on 1500ha. North-east Victoria accounts for about 70 per cent of the national crop, with the remainder spread across the NSW tablelands (Orange, the Southern Tablelands, Blue Mountains and Batlow), Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills and south-west WA. The main varieties grown are Red Spanish, Purtons Pride and De Coppi Marone, which flower in November and December and are harvested from March through May. Many orchards remain small, family-owned operations, though some larger commercial plantings also exist, and the average size of new orchards is increasing.

Almost all of the crop, around 98 per cent, is sold domestically through fresh wholesale markets, with small volumes of fresh and frozen peeled chestnuts exported to South East Asia. Domestic consumption, estimated at around 1300 tonnes in-shell, is currently met in full by local production. Growers are increasingly moving to mechanised harvest and reworking older trees to more consumer-friendly varieties. Local processors currently produce chestnut _ our, purée and beverage products in limited volumes, an area the industry sees room to grow further. 

Australia’s chestnut industry benefits from strict biosecurity: fresh imports are banned except from New Zealand, and the country remains free of Chestnut Gall Wasp and Chestnut Weevil, meaning the crop is grown without insecticides. An industry-managed eradication program, run by Chestnuts Australia with Agriculture Victoria, has brought Chestnut Blight under control after it devastated orchards and native

forests overseas. With new varieties prioritising flavour and ease of peeling over yield, unlike much of the rest of the world, the industry is chasing new export markets for fresh and frozen product to soak up rising production.