Subject: Re: Hazelnut Farm - Am I nuts?

From: [email-masked] (Hank Roberts)
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1993 23:31:00 GMT

Have a look at the      gopher well.sf.ca.us

Look in the Whole Earth Review articles directory for a file called
"Kill More Trees" by Phil Rutter, who owns Badgersett Research Farm
and is happily producing new and interesting varieties of both
hazelnuts and chestnuts.  He's also involved with the Northern Nut
Growers group which is a font of information.  You can write to his
family farm -- address is in the gopher file, regret I don't have
it handy (send them something for their newsletter, I think he
would dearly love to get some native hazelnuts or chinquapins that
flourish in wet or boggy soils for crossbreeding, for instance; or
check your local library for Whole Earth Review (December '92 I think)
for his article; for mention of Northern Nut Growers in the Magazine
Index, etc.)

There are some blights known; breeding for resistance is going OK.
I can't speak to the market prices but expect the nut growers can
advise you.  Sounds like big fun to me, wish I were in a position to
do the same.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 19:28:45 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Cameron Laird) writes:

>Does anyone in the USA say "filbert"?

>I don't know anything about hazelnut processing in
>this country.  Please do report back on it as you
>learn more; I but it's an interesting fraternity.
>-- 
I live in the heart of Oregon's FILBERT orchard area and Diamond has a 
processing plant on 99E in Hubbard, OR (address might be Aurora, OR).

In the 5 years I've been here, there have been significant increases in the 
number of orchards planted and producing.  Why, there's a 50-acre orchard 
right across the street from my house.

Recommend local OR Ag offices as good potential source of information on 
this subject.

Kath
[email-masked]
Portland, OR

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From: [email-masked] (Cameron Laird)
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1993 14:32:45 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
			.
			.
			.
>Recommend local OR Ag offices as good potential source of information on 
			.
			.
			.
If there's an FAQ for misc.rural, this should
be in it:  USA residents, talk to your country
agricultural extension agent.  They have the
information, and they're good about helping.

The originator of this thread asked about
diseases.  I've forgotten from where he was
asking.  Hazelnuts have been tried in the
eastern US, where the climate ought to be
acceptable (I've put in a few, myself--I
moved away from there, though, and have lost
track of how they're doing), but a "blight"
has constrained commerical plantings.  I
never have learned the biology of the blight.
Also, the catkins of hazelnuts are suscept-
ible to frosts.  They don't have to be late,
apparently; if there are warm days early, the
pollinating organs start to grow, then frigid
nights can wipe 'em out.  The tree doesn't
particularly mind, but it destroys a year's
nuts.
-- 

Cameron Laird
[email-masked] ([email-masked])	+1 713 267 7966
[email-masked] ([email-masked])  	+1 713 996 8546

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From: [email-masked] (Nathan Mead)
Date: 6 Aug 93 18:50:38 MDT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Rich Ward) writes:
|> I've been looking into acquiring a hazelnut farm.  

< deleted >

|> I would appreciate any pointers from those of you
|> that have experience in this area.  

As I have farmed hazelnuts for the last 20 years I'll toss in my 0.02$ worth. 
A filbert farm is a good hobby but a hard way to make a living.  The trees require a reasonable amount of care year round, from pruning in the winter, suckering, spraying and mowing in the spring and summer to harveting in the 
fall.  With the exception of harvesting and spraying nothing is real time critical and can wait a while if desired.  And farming in the shade is the 
only way to go.

|> Particularly what are the potential
|> pitfalls? Are there any diseases or nematodes that wipe out whole orchards?

Yes.  Eastern filbert blight kills the trees and there is no known cure.  
At my last understanding it was primarly found in southern Washington and 
the tri-counties area around Portland, although infected trees have been 
found in most of the Willamette vally.  It spreads slowly but is very nasty.
To the best of my knowledge none of the commerical varities are resistance although the common polinizer Daviana is one of the most susceptible.

|> Why have hazelnut prices gone from 40+ to 28 cents over the past three
|> years; is this just cyclic farm prices or is there something going on at
|> the nut houses?

There are as many theories about this as there are filbert farmers.  The 
big three are.  

1) Large overseas crops.  The U.S. grows a tiny fraction of all the 
filberts grown in the world.  Turkey is the biggie with around 50%-70% 
of the world production.  They have a good crop the price goes in the 
dumper.  

2)  Increased domestic production.  Despite the loss of many acres of 
orchard around Portland the total producing acerage keeps going up.  
A lot of trees were planted back in the early 80's when prices were 
high and now those trees are reaching full production.  Generally these 
orchards are high density plantings ( 200+ trees/acre ) and have higher 
yeilds than the older orchards.  

3)  The recession.  For years much of the domestic crop was exported, most
to Europe.  With the Europian economy in worse shape than ours they are 
buying fewer of our nuts.

Hope this helps.

Nathan Mead
Center for Engineering Design
University of Utah

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From: [email-masked] (Nathan Mead)
Date: 6 Aug 93 18:50:38 MDT

< deleted >

Hope this helps.

Nathan Mead