With increasingly unpredictable weather and more frequent rain events shortening harvest windows -particularly in northern New South Wales – Marquis Macadamias has increased its support for growers for the 2025 season. Both Marquis factories, in Lismore and Bundaberg, now offer new, free sorting options, allowing growers to spend less time sorting in the shed and more time in the orchard.

In 2012, Marquis introduced its unsorted delivery option, aimed at reducing on-farm labour costs, cutting delivery delays, and reducing the risk of NIS deterioration. The 2025 sorting options build on this to provide even greater flexibility and efficiency for growers.

“Sorting after harvest doesn’t increase the amount of sound or saleable kernel,” said Matt Weinert, Marquis’ Grower Liaison Officer. “It only changes the ratio of sound to unsound kernel. Holding NIS on farm can reduce quality and over-sorting can reduce the quantity delivered. Our sorting options free up grower time to focus on what really matters: orchard operations that improve sound kernel yield, like pest and disease control, improving tree health, and more frequent harvests. These critical farm practices maximise the quantity and quality of sound kernel that is produced, not sorting.”

Freshly harvested NIS has high moisture content, making it vulnerable to quality degradation, especially when extended on-farm storage is involved. Extended on-farm storage can negatively impact quality, increasing the chance of internal discolouration and early rancidity, which reduce kernel shelf life and give a poor consumer experience.

“While the improved sorting technology at our factories can remove unsound kernel, it can’t remove rancid kernel that appears fine to the naked eye,” Mr. Weinert explains. “That’s why delivering NIS to us quickly and minimising on-farm storage is so important.”

For the 2025 season Marquis introduced three flexible sorting options giving growers full control over how each consignment is handled – with no need to commit to the same option for the entire season.

The 2025 Sorting Options are.

1)  The delivery has been fully sorted on farm and will be treated as a standard NIS delivery.

No further sorting will be done at the factory prior to lab testing.

2)  The delivery has been fully sorted on farm and any Gross Reject NIS found in lab samples will be removed before the lab sample is assessed.

The lab samples are dried and before testing, lab samples are screened for gross rejects – black NIS, germinated NIS with protruding kernel or rat or bird-damaged NIS.

• NIS that appears to be a gross reject is weighed, cracked and assessed.

• Any saleable kernel is added to your premium or commercial sample.

• Any unsound kernel is excluded from kernel recovery calculations, and the weight of the NIS is proportionally deducted from your consignment.

3)  The delivery has had a basic sort on farm and requires assessment at receivals for Foreign Material, Trash, Nut in Husk and Gross Reject NIS.

The delivery sample, collected at receivals, will be sorted to remove,

• Foreign material, Trash, Nut in Husk and Gross Reject NIS

• These materials are weighed and proportionally deducted from the delivered weight.

Bundaberg Grower Dave Shaxson used options 2 and 3 in 2025.

“We used Option 3 for our first harvest round and with the lab results we received we will use this for our last round of harvest.

Initially we sent a few smaller loads to trial Option 2. We were happy with the results and so we sent the remainder of our loads this way. Using Option 2 relieved the pressure on our sorting shed during the season and reduced labour costs.

Both options allowed us to focus more time on farm operations, not sorting.”

Lismore grower Michael Jenvey has already trialled Option 2.

“With limited dry weather windows recently, we can’t afford to waste time on sorting. Our latest consignment was 13.8 tonnes NIS at 10% moisture. Under Option 2, only 151.5 kg of gross reject NIS was removed. We stayed under the reject penalty threshold, and we were able to get the nuts off the wet ground and into the drying silos quickly. It’s been a very positive experience so far.”

Note: Gross reject NIS includes only defects visible to the naked eye, such as black NIS, germinated NIS (with protruding kernel), and rodent or bird-damaged nuts. It does not include internal defects like insect, immaturity or discolouration. All deliveries must still meet the Marquis Delivery Specifications, outlined in the company’s Terms & Conditions (available online).