Hazelnuts as Feedstock

Hybrid hazelnuts can produce nearly twice the amount of oil per acre as soybeans, and the oil's physical and chemical properties make it substantially superior to soybean oil for culinary use and biodiesel fuel production. 

A largely unexplored, yet promising, opportunity exists with the byproduct created when oil is extracted from hazelnuts. A high-quality protein meal remains that can be used for livestock feed.

Adopting hazelnuts as a feedstock crop would increase overall crop diversity for growers, reducing their risk while promoting integrated, environmentally friendly production systems.

Hazelnuts Are Drought Resistant

We’re sweltering in triple-digit heat in the Midwest today. We’ve had no measureable rainfall in weeks and the extremely hot, dry conditions are expected to continue through next week. Annual crops are under considerable stress, which points to one of the significant reasons we think hybrid hazelnuts hold promise for Midwest growers.

Hazelnuts use less water and are drought resistant. Massive root systems allow the perennial plants to avoid short-term droughts that adversely affect annual crops. Tests in Nebraska have shown that hazelnuts can be a staple dry-land crop. If irrigation is needed, drip or trickle irrigation can be used with hazelnuts which greatly increases water efficiency and helps conserve this vital resource.

Climatically Adapted Hazelnuts 
Would Increase Growing Area

Oregon’s temperate Willamette Valley produces almost all of the U.S. hazelnut crop which was valued $89.3 million in 2011, a 32% increase over the previous year. This represents only about 3% of the world crop, however, so it’s easy to see the potential for American farmers if climatically adapted hazelnuts can be developed.

We believe the U.S. has the potential to become one of the world’s leading, sustainable hazelnut producers, which is why we’re working to develop disease-resistant hazelnuts that can survive greater fluctuations in temperatures than those in Oregon. Expanding the growing region will create thousands of jobs and millions of dollars, and would allow homeowners and gardeners to grow and enjoy tasty, high-quality hazelnuts as well.   
  

 

U.S. hazelnut production currently is limited to the
Willamette Valley in Oregon.

This is the potential growing area for hazelnuts if climatically
adapted hybrids are developed.

Hybrid Hazelnuts:
An Agroforestry Opportunity

We believe tremendous opportunity will exist for U.S. farmers and nut growers when disease-resistant, climatically adapted hazelnuts are developed. Why? Because hazelnut plants require less water than annual crops, are drought resistant and can be grown on hilly, sloping or marginal soils. Our research in Nebraska has shown that hazelnuts can be a high-yielding dry-land crop.

Hybrid hazelnut shrubs will be suitable for integration into farming systems as orchards or income-producing windbreaks or snow fences. Used in riparian forest buffers, they will reduce erosion, store water and trap soil, chemicals and nutrients while producing additional income for landowners.
 
They also may provide revenue-generating capability for small, difficult-to-farm parcels of land, such as corners created by pivot irrigation systems or in areas where unusual topography is unsuited for cultivated crops.

And where ever they’re planted, they’ll provide year-round habitat for wildlife. Check out our website at www.arborday.org/programs/hazelnuts/consortium for more information about the potential of hybrid hazelnuts.