About
Select Harvest

Nice To Meet You

We’d love to share a bit about how we got into the almond growing business. In 1982, the Spycher brothers, Wally and Hartley, wanted a way to spend more time together. Eschewing the typical, they began an almond farming and processing business (spoiler alert, they both had roots in farming).

In 1998 the brothers were approached by Robert Nunes from their local Farm Credit Bank about pursuing a business partnership. Together with immigrant-entrepreneur Dinesh Bajaj and industry veterans (and sisters!) Sheryl Wheeler and Shelly Broumas, the foundation for today’s (much larger) Select Harvest USA was established.

Select Harvest USA is still farming, but now we’ve partnered with over 200 almond growers across California to meet the consumer demand for quality almonds. We still cherish and embody our founding principles of supporting families, building communities and upholding ethical business practices.

We humbly consider ourselves among the leaders of the almond industry, and are committed to excellence in product and employee safety, reduction of our environmental impacts, and continuing investment in state-of-the-art equipment and product innovation. We work hard to mitigate our impacts on our employees, communities and environment while ensuring we bring the best almonds to market.

Managing our Impacts

As the grower, processor and producer of almonds and almond snacks, we have the luxury to make positive impacts through the entire journey of our (and other’s) products. We continually evaluate and reduce the impacts of our operations on our communities, employees and the land.

In Our Orchards

Water Use

As a result of investment in advanced irrigation technology, monitoring, AI and automation we have reduced our overall water usage by 15%.

Pesticide/Bee Health

Our integrated Pest Management Program deploys passive pest management tactics as our first line of defense. These methods include trapping, mating disruption and orchard sanitation. When we do need to resort to chemical-based tactics we can target only problem areas - no more spaying the whole orchard for a local problem. We apply crop protection materials only during inactive periods for bees and pollinators, and have eliminated the use of chemicals linked to pollinator health decline like chlorpyrifos and neonicotinoids.

Dust Management

We’ve use dust capturing technologies in our processing plants to provide cleaner air environments for employees. these technologies also reduce dust pollution in our communities.

Soil Health

At the end of the lifespan of our orchards, trees are removed and chipped on site and incorporated back into the soil. Not only does this boost soil health and aide water retention, but we eliminate the off-site transportation and disposal of this valuable resource.

Fuel/Energy Consumption

We have converted our diesel powered pumping stations to use clean electricity. We’ve also begun replacing fossil fuel based equipment with those powered by electric energy. Solar has been installed where power consumption is sufficient to benefit from this investment.

In our Facilities

Chemical Use

Fumigation and pasteurization are necessary steps to protect quality and safety. By installing dedicated fumigation chambers, we have reduced our fumigant use by 10% while greatly reducing the risk of employee exposure to these chemicals. We also invested in state-of-the-art Cool Steam pasteurization technology allowing us to completely eliminate chemical pasteurization.

Pest management

Passive pest management tactics like traps, pheromone disrupter and even speakers broadcasting predator noises have all helped to wean us off chemical use dependency. Chemicals deterrents and controls are now a last resort.

Fuel Energy Consumption

Investments in solar arrays over warehouses, parking and on unused acreage means 80% of our energy use now comes from on-site renewables. This has also allowed us to phase out many fuel burning facility vehicles in favor of electric.

Waste Diversion

We look to eliminate waste and recycle at every step of the process. Almonds enter our facility in wood bins that we maintain and repair year after year. When we ship in bulk, we ship in reusable sacks. And when we can’t reuse something, it gets recycled.

Online and Retail Store

All our shipping materials are 100% recyclable.

In our Communities

Being a responsible community member goes far beyond our orchards and facilities. This is why we continually give to charitable endeavors both big and small.

Be it local youth programs like the Boys & Girls Club and the Stanislaus County Police Activities League; educational partnerships with CSU, Chico Ag Scholarship fund and Stanislaus Partners in Education; or providing almonds to those in need both locally and abroad, we know that lending our support helps makes our communities stronger for all of us.