Photo: Hamish MacLeanIt is taking time, but New Zealanders are slowly coming to the realisation that fresh is best when it comes to nuts, North Otago grower Stuart Hamilton says. Hamilton and wife Lynda have 700 walnut trees planted on a 5.5ha plot on Teschemakers Rd. When Hamilton started in 2002, New Zealand was importing 500 tonnes of nuts annually. He saved up, bought a piece of land and planted four different varieties of walnut trees 15 years ago. It takes walnut trees 15 to 20 years to mature and begin producing a decent quantity of nuts - between two and four tonnes per hectare.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 17, 2017 16:30 UTC