Who’s stealing walnuts? Nut theft rises in Yuba-Sutter, along with prices

Yuba and Sutter counties’ officials have launched their annual oversight of walnut sales amid a rise in the crop’s value that has sparked fears of theft.

“When walnut prices are up, you see more incidents of walnut theft, and when prices are down, less,” said Nicolas Oliver, Sutter County assistant agricultural commissioner. “We have heard there have been a few this year already. It’s not really an indicator of the success of the market, but it’s definitely tied together.”

The mechanism that agricultural commissioners for Yuba and Sutter counties have at their disposal to curb theft is the annual walnut-buying period that establishes time frames and documentation requirements for buying and selling unprocessed walnuts. Walnut sellers must have a certificate that transfers and is held by the buyer to prove ownership, which makes it more difficult for stolen nuts to enter the secondary market.

Yuba and Sutter commissioners announced the buying period would begin Saturday and last through April 30, 2026.

Similar ordinances exist in Butte, Tehama and Glenn counties, among others.

Growers sell most walnuts in truck-load quantities to large-scale processors. The price paid by processors to growers for walnuts nearly tripled from 2022 to 2024, according to a recent USDA report.

The value of walnuts spiked last year after cratering in the years prior, but relatively small loads of walnuts still sell for modest prices. The nut’s value to Sutter County’s economy more than doubled to about $106.5 million. Its value to Yuba County last year also nearly doubled that of the previous year, according to each county’s latest crop report.

Who’s stealing walnuts?

The Sutter County Sheriff’s Office has received 15 calls related to suspected walnut theft or trespassing throughout roughly the past month, seven of which resulted in citations or arrest, said Sierra Pedley, a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.

The largest bust involved a man and woman pulled over Sunday with about 200 pounds of allegedly stolen walnuts in their back seat. Each suspect was arrested on counts of possessing burglary tools — in this case, a rake — and grand theft of fruit, Pedley said.

They also received felony theft charges for having two prior theft convictions, she said.

Sheriff’s deputies quickly caught suspects in several walnut thefts earlier this month, prompting them to ticket and release the suspects, who returned the nuts to the grower, Pedley said.

Despite rising walnut prices, relatively small quantities still fetch modest payments. One grower estimated a stolen lot of about 30 pounds of walnuts, which were returned to him, would have sold for about 80 cents per pound, Pedley said, valuing the stolen haul at about $24.

The Sheriff’s Office believes that many incidents of agricultural theft go unreported, making the scale of the seasonal theft difficult to quantify.

“We really want to encourage farmers or even citizens in Sutter County to please call it in,” Pedley said.

This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.