Hazelnuts are Environmentally Friendly

Our research has shown that hybrid hazelnuts can provide numerous environmental benefits, making them attractive CRP plants, windbreaks, hedges or riparian buffers.

• Hazelnuts sequester carbon. Compared to annual crops, the extensive root systems of perennial crops help build and increase organic soil matter, sequestering more carbon from the atmosphere each year.

• Hazelnuts have a longer period of photosynthetic activity than annual crops. Because the full leaf canopy is present in hazelnuts from early spring to late fall (unlike annual crops), there is significantly more time for photosynthesis and subsequent fixation of carbon dioxide. With annual crops, canopy closure doesn’t happen until summer and bare soil does not photosynthesize and fix carbon dioxide.

• With higher annual carbon sequestration, growers may receive a higher payment through carbon aggregate programs than they receive for annual crops.

• Hazelnut plants provide great wildlife habitat and nutrition. Wildlife known to benefit from hazelnut plants include deer, wild turkeys, woodpeckers, squirrels, pheasants, quail and grouse.