An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) Manual for Tree Nut Farming holds paramount importance in ensuring efficient, sustainable, and safe agricultural practices. Firstly, it establishes standardized procedures for planting, cultivation, harvesting, and post-harvest processes in tree nut farming. This consistency enhances overall productivity and quality control. Secondly, the manual becomes an indispensable resource for personnel training, guiding farmers and workers in adhering to best practices, reducing errors, and optimizing yield. Thirdly, it plays a crucial role in risk management by outlining safety protocols, pest control measures, and environmental considerations. Additionally, the SOP Manual contributes to regulatory compliance, addressing legal requirements and industry standards. By providing a structured framework, it supports the implementation of sustainable farming practices, ensuring the long-term viability of tree nut farming operations. Overall, the manual fosters excellence, professionalism, and environmental stewardship in the tree nut farming industry. 

Top 50 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Tree Nut Farming 

SOP-032-001: Standard Operating Procedure for soil preparation 
SOP-032-002: Standard Operating Procedure for site selection 
SOP-032-003: Standard Operating Procedure for variety selection 
SOP-032-004: Standard Operating Procedure for planting procedures 
SOP-032-005: Standard Operating Procedure for water management   
SOP-032-006: Standard Operating Procedure for fertilization   
SOP-032-007: Standard Operating Procedure for pruning techniques 
SOP-032-008: Standard Operating Procedure for pest management 
SOP-032-009: Standard Operating Procedure for disease management 
SOP-032-010: Standard Operating Procedure for harvesting practices  

SOP-032-011: Standard Operating Procedure for post-harvest handling 
SOP-032-012: Standard Operating Procedure for quality control 
SOP-032-013: Standard Operating Procedure for equipment maintenance 
SOP-032-014: Standard Operating Procedure for record keeping 
SOP-032-015: Standard Operating Procedure for safety protocols 
SOP-032-016: Standard Operating Procedure for training procedures 
SOP-032-017: Standard Operating Procedure for environmental stewardship 
SOP-032-018: Standard Operating Procedure for Weed Control 
SOP-032-019: Standard Operating Procedure for Equipment Purchasing Guidelines 
SOP-032-020: Standard Operating Procedure for Pollination Management 

SOP-032-021: Standard Operating Procedure for Frost Protection 
SOP-032-022: Standard Operating Procedure for Cover Crop Management 
SOP-032-023: Standard Operating Procedure for Market Preparation 
SOP-032-024: Standard Operating Procedure for Government Regulations 
SOP-032-025: Standard Operating Procedure for Community Relations 
SOP-032-026: Standard Operating Procedure for Drip Irrigation Maintenance 
SOP-032-027: Standard Operating Procedure for budgeting and financial management 
SOP-032-028: Standard Operating Procedure for drought preparedness 
SOP-032-029: Standard Operating Procedure for temperature and humidity monitoring 
SOP-032-030: Standard Operating Procedure for integrated nutrient management

 

SOP-032-031: Standard Operating Procedure for data security and privacy 
SOP-032-032: Standard Operating Procedure for grafting techniques 
SOP-032-033: Standard Operating Procedure for propagation practices 
SOP-032-034: Standard Operating Procedure for dealing with wildlife 
SOP-032-035: Standard Operating Procedure for sunburn prevention 
SOP-032-036: Standard Operating Procedure for chemical application safety 
SOP-032-037: Standard Operating Procedure for post-harvest measures 
SOP-032-038: Standard Operating Procedure for phytosanitary measures 
SOP-032-039: Standard Operating Procedure for erosion control 
SOP-032-040: Standard Operating Procedure for cultivation of companion plants 

SOP ToolBox: If you are reading these lines, I am sure you are looking for Standard Operating Procedure guidelines or SOPs itself. In both the cases, searching in internet will not be yielding any great help. Because no company shares their SOP Development Process and certainly don’t share their SOP Documents. The best way to develop an SOP is creating one for yourself. At Fhyzics, we write SOPs day-in and day-out for companies across the globe including some of the Fortune 500 organisations. Our charge ranges from USD 5000 to USD 50000 depending upon the number of processes to be covered. Certainly, this is not affordable to small and mid-size organisations. Hence, we decided to create this SOP ToolBox to disseminate our 8-Step SOP Development Life-Cycle and best practices at an unbelievably low price.

I always say, writing an SOP is somewhere between art and science. So far you may be clueless on where to start and how to progress on an SOP? This will not be the case after you diligently go through this SOP ToolBox. We have summarised all our secrets here to get you started and to deliver a stunning SOP to your management.

1. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Accounts Department
2. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Finance Department
3. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Customer Service
4. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for CRM Department
5. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Credit Department
6. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Treasury Department
7. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Human Resources (HR) Department
8. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Training Department
9. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Learning & Development Department
10. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Administration Department
11. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Front Office
12. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for House Keeping
13. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Safety Department
14. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Security Department
15. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Facilities Management Department
16. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Vigilance Department
17. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Legal Department
18. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Information Technology (IT) Department
19. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Sales & Marketing Department
20. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Design & Engineering 
21. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Procurement Department
22. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Production
23. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for SRM Department
24. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Supply Chain Department
25. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Warehouse
26. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for New Product Development Department
27. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Research and Development  
28. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Quality Department
29. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Calibration Department
30. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Maintenance Department
31. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manual for Logistics Department

The Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global fruit and nut farming market, accounting for 49% of the market in 2018. Western Europe was the second largest region accounting for 13% of the global fruit and nut farming market. Eastern Europe was the smallest region in the global tree nut farming market.

• Wonderful Orchards LLC
• Candor-Ags Inc
• Macfarms LLC
• Columbia Empire Farms Inc
• Taylor Brothers Farms Inc
• Braden Farms
• Munger Investments
• Jerry Barton
• Skittone Almond Sheller Inc
• Panoche Creek Packing Inc

Some of the challenges faced by this industry

1. Traditional Tree Nut farming methods are no longer enough for today’s farmers

To be competitive today, Tree Nut farmers need more from their land and their crop. Higher levels of production require more intensive farming, but traditional methods are very difficult to scale cost-effectively and sustainably.

Italy, although a small producer, clearly demonstrates the three models of an almond farm:

• Specialized trees, fully irrigated, spaced regularly with a consistent automation
• Specialized orchards, irregular water supply, managed manually or with semi-automation
• Low specialization, species competing, natural water supply, manual management

In order to be competitive, Tree Nut producers are increasingly adopting the first model, having identified a pressing need for both a scientific approach to planting and automated management. Automated processes are more reliable than workers for repetitive tasks. Once the technology is set up, it can also significantly reduce management costs.

In Spain, farmers are both extending their orchards by replacing wheat and sunflower fields with almond trees in a very organized way and finding new uses for the technology. Their ‘shaker’ machines, for example, usually used to harvest olives, are now being used to harvest almonds as well.

Spanish farmers are also looking at different varieties of Tree Nut that could potentially deliver a greater yield. However, there may be implications with these varieties, such as the amount of water required to grow them, which also has to be taken into account.

2. The impact of drought on almond crops and irrigation solutions

California, the world’s Tree Nut growing capital, is suffering record-breaking wildfires and droughts. Limited to underground aquifers shared between commercial enterprises and residents, California leads the way with efficient irrigation. This has led to them developing cutting edge irrigation solutions that other countries are also learning from.

87 percent of Californian farmers use micro-irrigation – where water is delivered directly to tree roots – and demand-based irrigation scheduling. Improvements such as these have reduced the amount of water to grow 1lb of Tree Nut by 33 percent over the past 20 years.

Drought is a problem in Spain too, with local water boards limiting the amount of water each farmer can use per hectare of land. If reservoir levels deplete, it will become imperative for Spanish farmers to address other forms of irrigation, perhaps widely adopting the Californian model.

3. Issues with manual labor leading advances in automated solutions

Labor is more expensive and less reliable than ever. Employment trends are changing across the world and, as developing economies emerge, manual labor becomes scarcer. Farming is losing out to more lucrative, less physical roles in other sectors. This leaves farmers suffering from a dwindling workforce, traditionally charged with quality inspection and rework: both essential in ensuring quality and yield.

This issue has driven the need for better automated processes and Tree Nut producers are seeing an upsurge in profits as a result. Certain Spanish Tree Nut producers, for instance, are using reverse sorting technology to save kilos of almonds every day from the waste pile. One producer has reported a saving of 500 kilos daily, equating to €2,500 per day.

Automated grading processes significantly improve consistency of quality. Human inspectors can be subjective when it comes to grading, whereas automated grading is completely objective.

4. Quality control standards rise as nut quality degrades

Despite the best efforts of Tree Nut producers to increase supply, demand continues to gallop ahead at a faster rate. Climate issues and other natural threats degrade the overall quality of the crop. Add to this increased quality control at the point of import and the strains on manufacturers are obvious. While demand soars, the need for ensuring a top quality products is not only in response to certain markets’ preference for a premium product, it’s also a public health issue.

Pathogens such as aflatoxin, salmonella, and e-coli are a serious concern, reflected in the high rate of nut batch rejections in Europe. To combat dangers such as these, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) actively supports the continuous improvement of food safety for consumers worldwide.

GFSI is a business-drive initiative that provides a platform for collaboration between some of the world’s leading food safety experts from retailer, manufacturer and food service companies, service providers associated with the food supply chain, international organizations, academia, and government. Collaboration on this scale is helping drive the development of increasingly sophisticated technologies to detect all sorts of defects, from shell damage to serious contaminations that could impact public health. Good news for consumers and almond producers alike.

5. Global trade pressures on Tree Nut exporters and how they respond

Finally, there are market pressures that Tree Nut producers can’t control. In 2018, US farmers saw the price of their crop drop 14 percent between March and July. Chinese and Indian buyers shunned Californian Tree Nut, turning instead to Australian producers, in retaliation to rising import tariffs as a result of Trump’s trade war with China.

2018 was a bumper year for California’s almond growers, many of whom were expecting to export to the lucrative Chinese market, a market the US almond industry has been developing for 15 years. It remains to be seen how this particular challenge will be overcome.

While global politics can provide the toughest challenges for businesses, technology has the answers to many issues. As the almond market shifts and challenges evolve, technology is offering more ways to improve efficiency, maintain uptime, and increase yield.

• https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=111335
• https://siccode.com/naics-code/111335/tree-nut-farming
• https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191004005189/en/Global-Fruit-Nut-Farming-Market-Forecast-2022

The tree nuts farming industry consists of a wide array of crops and products generating, on average, over $25 billion in farm cash receipts annually. Produced on less than 2 percent of U.S. agricultural cropland, farm cash receipts from this sector account for about 7 percent of the total receipts for all agricultural commodities and around 13 percent for all crops. Foreign markets serve as outlets for less than 20 percent of overall U.S. fruit and tree nuts supplies, while nearly half of the available supplies for domestic consumption come from imports.

Research By : Mohammed Ijas