Pistachio Industry is Solid on Production and Pricing

By Patrick Cavanaugh, with Ag Infomation Network

Mark Sherrell is the Chief Operating Officer for Touchstone Pistachio Co, a family-owned pistachio growing and processing operation located in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.

“We’re looking at the largest global supply ever. We’re also looking at the largest American supply of pistachios and pricing remains pretty firm at $3.70 to three $3.75 a pound,” said Sherrell. “Quality of the crop looks really good and we look forward to a good shipping season,” he said.

And Touchtone is building a new pistachio processing plant.

“The new Touchdown Pistachio plant will incorporate state-of-the-art automation, efficiencies, color, sorting, electronic sorting, x-ray technology, roasting and salting, and will be the most modern plant built to date,” he said. “It’s all about producing quality products for the customers in an efficient manner.”

And of course, when you build a plant food, safety is top of mind.

“Yes, it is one of the great things about Touchdown is that it’s a Greenfield-built plant, and we’re able to design a plant around food safety rather than design a food safety plan around a plant. So we feel that we have a huge upside in being able to design a facility that incorporates food safety at every level,” Sherrell said.