If a national research group has its way, U.S. farmers will soon add a new crop to their fields — hazelnuts.
The U.S. currently produces only about five percent of the world’s hazelnuts.
Traditionally known as a European crop used to make sweets and healthy cooking oils, hazelnuts may have even bigger potential as a bio-fuel and feed for livestock, researchers say. And hazelnuts are environmentally friendly to grow according to researchers at the Arbor Day Foundation, a tree conservation organization.
The U.S. currently produces only about five percent of the world’s hazelnuts — and almost all of that comes from Oregon, an area of the U.S. with a climate ideal for tree growth. But a consortium of the Arbor Day Foundation and three universities — the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oregon State University and Rutgers University — thinks the U.S. can do better.
To increase the hazelnut’s presence in American fields, researchers first have to develop a hybrid that will grow well in a variety of climates across the country.
The group, which has been conducting research for more than a decade, received a $1.3 million grant last fall from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — it’s largest to date — to help make hazelnuts a commercially viable crop. The research had previously been funded by smaller grants or by the institutions themselves.
Scott Josiah, state forester and director of the Nebraska Forrest Service says both the economic and environmental potential of hazelnuts were likely motivating factors behind the USDA’s decision to award the grant.
“They are looking for crops that show potential,” said Josiah. “Hazelnuts will grow where other crops won’t — such as on sloped terrain.”
The versatility of the hazelnut is what makes it so appealing as a new crop, researchers say. It’s used in candies and as a food supplement. As a cooking oil, it has a similar composition to olive oil with a high content of Omega-9 and Omega-6.
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