“The weather has been great, there are lots of bees around and the trees are carrying plenty of flowers ... but it will be a few more weeks before we see how the nuts set,” the Valla Rural farmer said.

The presence of bees is vital when it comes to macadamias - they do most of the pollinating and while nature does a wonderful job, help is sometimes needed.

“This year for the first time we have actually paid to have extra bees brought onto the farm,” she said.

“No bees means no nuts ... although native bees and insects also help.

“This season we harvested more than 20 tonnes, so with the extra bees we are hoping for even more next season.”

Spring is the busiest time in the macadamia farmer’s calendar.

Even as the new flowers begin to appear, the harvest of last season’s crop continues.

Plus there is fertilising and ongoing mowing.

“It is a stressful time for the trees as they are still carrying last year’s fruit while they are flowering.”

Sue and her partner, Peter Baldwin, are part of a small group of local growers who have taken the plunge and gone organic.

This means more work when it comes to fertilising and weed control but the pay-off is the premium price per kilo of nuts - $5.20 compared with $3.30.

The couple, who originally hail from Melbourne, bought their farm in 1989, but only moved up here five years ago.

“I do miss our friends but the lifestyle we have now is wonderful - we can start our day with a walk on the beach and a coffee at Valla and then come out to the farm by 11am to start work for the day and work into the early evening,” Sue said.

Adding to the sweetness of life is the fact that after years of depressed prices and bad weather, the two factors have finally synchronised.

“It’s not often you get good production and good prices.”

She said everything to do with the nuts was recycled - prunings were chipped and used for mulch, husks were mixed with blood and bone to make compost (the blood and bone comes from the Frederickton abattoirs).

Huge quantities of mulch from trees cleared for the Pacific Highway upgrade have also been stockpiled.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the commercial production of Australia’s native nut. 

From humble beginnings, the industry now has more than 750 growers who produce around 40,000 tonnes of nuts-in-shell each year. More than 70 per cent of the nuts are exported.

Macadamia growers are represented nationally by the Australian Macadamia Society.