The Sella Family left Northern Italy in 1966 with their future sights set on Australia. Leaving a nut farming history behind them, they settled in the Ovens Valley near Myrtleford.

In 1974, the farm, in Myrtleford, was started by Enrico Sella with his 3 sons and a daughter. Nuts have always been harvested on the farm however Tobacco was it’s main crop up until the demise of the Tobacco Industry in 2006. As with many farms in the area, a new crop was needed to replace Tobacco. To meet the requirements of the many cattle farms in the region, lucerne was an obvious choice.

Fast forward to 2011 and Ovens River Nuts was born under the management of Claudio Sella, ( one of the 3 sons) along with his wife and 2 children, still very much a family affair.

From humble beginnings, 400 walnut trees were planted, the next year, 2000 hazelnut trees were added to the farm. With planned growth on the horizon, a nursery was established to propagate their own seedlings and the farm now has grown to over 3500 hazelnut trees.

Claudio’s farming philosophy is to produce food using sustainable natural farming techniques where possible, ensuring that not only the crop is bountiful, but also care is given to the environment.

Ovens River Nuts follows a truely inhouse approach with the growing, harvesting, processing and packaging all under Claudio’s watchful eye.

Varieties now include TBC hazelnuts with 4 varieties of walnuts being – Chandler, Howard, Lara along with Franquette.

The farm continues to flourish, supplying it’s crop to local producers and wholesalers around Australia.