Punt from Richmond Walnuts owners pays off

Jimmy and Amber Smith admit that buying Richmond Walnuts in 2021 was “absolute stupidity”.

Amber’s parents live next door to the 48-hectare farm, which has had walnuts growing there since the early 2000s.

“It was wildly out of our budget, but we liked the idea of perfectly groomed rows of trees, and the house is really nice,” she said.

“We had to sell everything we owned to buy it.”

The couple initially thought it would be akin to a hobby farm, but Amber said they quickly realised it would require more work than anticipated.

“Jimmy’s a builder, and we bought the farm during covid, so he had heaps of houses to build.

“I had to throw myself in the deep end running this place by myself.”

During the first few years of operation, they had a contract with Stahmann Webster under which the company maintained, harvested, and processed everything.

“After that, everything became a lot busier.

“During harvest, it is very intense – every day is like putting out fires.”

Each harvest, Richmond Walnuts produces between 60 and 70 tonnes of product.

Their walnuts can be found at Hill Street and are also sent to a distributor who supplies them to supermarkets in Sydney and Melbourne.

“The walnut industry here in Tasmania is very, very small,” Amber said.

“We’re the largest privately owned walnut farm in the state, selling direct to the public.

“Eventually, we will become the largest walnut farm overall in Tasmania.

“But we are nothing in comparison to some of the farms on the mainland.”

Amber said growing walnuts in Tasmania was different from growing them elsewhere in Australia.

“The cooler climate makes it so much easier to manage.

“Walnuts hate rain, and where we are situated, we get quite a fair bit of wind but not a heap of rain.”

Amber said walnuts were a cheap and nutritious food.

“They’re very high in protein and omega-3.

“For vegans and vegetarians, they are a great option.

“And most of the time, they are cheaper than meat-based products.”

Amber said she enjoyed running a walnut farm.

“When it’s not causing us undue stress, I’m in awe of the beauty of the place and how picturesque it is.

“It’s a good size for us to manage.

“We’re not the sort of people who like to wipe our hands and get employees and have other people run the farm.

“It’s nice that it’s big enough for us to be busy.”

Richmond Walnuts is not looking to expand operations in the near future.

“We’re not really into value-added products,” Amber said.

“It’s already unfathomable how many nuts go through here to the common person.”

But once their children are older, the couple said they might consider distributing solely through supermarket shelves.

“There is a lot more bagging involved in that, which would mean we’d have to hire a few employees,” Amber said.

“That would change our lifestyle a bit.

“But for now, we’re quite happy with what we are doing.”