How An Almond Grower Expanded His Operation

Jim Jasper heads up Stewart and Jasper orchards, with almond growing, hulling and shelling operations in the Stanislaus County area of Newman.

“In the mid-eighties as the almond industry continued to grow, some of our neighbors wanted to use our huller. So we put a sheller in, and by the late eighties, like a lot of them are doing, we were a Blue Diamond growers from 1960 until 1990, sending our almonds to Blue Diamond. But then we decided, well, we'll try putting them into a box,” noted Jasper.

By putting them in a box Jasper means he's going to be processing and shipping to customers

“We started a little processing business that evolved. And our neighbors wanted to follow suit. And so by the mid 1990s, we're probably up to about 2% of the total industry boxing processing, marketing almonds. We've continued about that same 2% to this day. Things just kind of evolved,” Jasper said.

Jasper said they just grew with the industry than ever wanted to outgrow that industry.

“But as you know, by the 2002 or so, the industry hit a billion pounds. And then about 2012 the industry had reached 2 billion pounds. And now we're looking at a crop today of 3 billion pounds,” noted Jasper.