What makes hazelnuts one of the Midwest's most sustainable crops?
How sustainable are AHC hazelnuts?
Very! The extraordinary thing about the hybrid hazelnuts we grow is that the crop has a lot of sustainability built right into it. Because hazelnuts are native to the Upper Midwest, they are meant to grow well on the landscape without taking up many resources. For example:
Water use: Most of our farmers do not water their hazelnut bushes at all after the first year. This is especially remarkable given how thirsty other common nut crops are. 74% of nuts globally are grown under water stress. This is especially true for almonds and pistachios, which grow in California where they do not have much water to spare.
Fertilizer: Fertilizer runoff from agriculture has devastated Midwestern river and lake ecosystems. Eutrophication leads to dead zones. But hazelnuts are helping to prevent this problem. The roots are impressively effective at leaching Nitrogen out of the soil. Hazelnut bushes are commonly recommended as good species for buffers, strips of trees planted alongside waterways to prevent chemicals from entering the water, even without the benefit of producing a delicious food. Additionally, adding fertilizer to our hybrid hazelnut bushes may produce bigger bushes, but it will not produce more hazelnuts, so you can rest assured they are only contributing to taking excess chemicals out of the soil.
Growing trees:
Perennial crop: Soil health is a trendy buzz word these days, but we don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Hazelnut bushes are perennial, meaning they remain in the ground consistantly rather than being dug up and replanted each year. This comes with so many environmental benefits.
Areas for improvement regarding sustainability
- Growing an industry requires a balancing act: Need to show interest from consumers to convince farmers to grow. Need to supply from farmers to grow interest from consumers. To help achieve this balance, our oil and flour products contain a European hazelnut variety grown in Oregon. These nuts are not grown with the same sustainability characteristics we pride ourselves on on our farms. They are harvested with great disruption to the trees, they require a bare ground. We are grateful for this relationship that is crucial to helping the industry take hold in the midwest, but we look forward to supplying our own.
Very! The extraordinary thing about the hybrid hazelnuts we grow is that the crop has a lot of sustainability built right into it. Because hazelnuts are native to the Upper Midwest, they are meant to grow well on the landscape without taking up many resources. For example:
Water use: Most of our farmers do not water their hazelnut bushes at all after the first year. This is especially remarkable given how thirsty other common nut crops are. 74% of nuts globally are grown under water stress. This is especially true for almonds and pistachios, which grow in California where they do not have much water to spare.
Fertilizer: Fertilizer runoff from agriculture has devastated Midwestern river and lake ecosystems. Eutrophication leads to dead zones. But hazelnuts are helping to prevent this problem. The roots are impressively effective at leaching Nitrogen out of the soil. Hazelnut bushes are commonly recommended as good species for buffers, strips of trees planted alongside waterways to prevent chemicals from entering the water, even without the benefit of producing a delicious food. Additionally, adding fertilizer to our hybrid hazelnut bushes may produce bigger bushes, but it will not produce more hazelnuts, so you can rest assured they are only contributing to taking excess chemicals out of the soil.
Growing trees:
Perennial crop: Soil health is a trendy buzz word these days, but we don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Hazelnut bushes are perennial, meaning they remain in the ground consistantly rather than being dug up and replanted each year. This comes with so many environmental benefits.
- soil builds health each year.
- carbon sequestration.
- Consistant habitat (not disrupting the animals that live there)
Areas for improvement regarding sustainability
- Growing an industry requires a balancing act: Need to show interest from consumers to convince farmers to grow. Need to supply from farmers to grow interest from consumers. To help achieve this balance, our oil and flour products contain a European hazelnut variety grown in Oregon. These nuts are not grown with the same sustainability characteristics we pride ourselves on on our farms. They are harvested with great disruption to the trees, they require a bare ground. We are grateful for this relationship that is crucial to helping the industry take hold in the midwest, but we look forward to supplying our own.
Our relationship with Oregon
If you've ever eaten a hazelnut (filbert), it probably came from Corylus avellana (European hazelnut). The kernels from American hazelnut and hybrids with European hazelnut are smaller, but tastier. Our nuts are perfect for baking, confections, granola, cereal, trail mix, and just about any other product you might make with hazelnuts. Oil from hazelnuts is truly heart healthy with 80% oleic acid, the same fatty acid that makes olive oil so healthy. In fact, hazelnut oil is just as healthy as olive oil, but has that subtle nut flavor that chefs adore. Roasting hazelnuts brings out the full flavor.
If you've ever eaten a hazelnut (filbert), it probably came from Corylus avellana (European hazelnut). The kernels from American hazelnut and hybrids with European hazelnut are smaller, but tastier. Our nuts are perfect for baking, confections, granola, cereal, trail mix, and just about any other product you might make with hazelnuts. Oil from hazelnuts is truly heart healthy with 80% oleic acid, the same fatty acid that makes olive oil so healthy. In fact, hazelnut oil is just as healthy as olive oil, but has that subtle nut flavor that chefs adore. Roasting hazelnuts brings out the full flavor.
~~Water~~
Low water use/drought resistance:
Cleaning water: Plant roots are nature's water filters. Hazels are such affective water filters that the USDA pays farmers to plant hazels along waterways. In healthy soil, microbes thrive. They produce pores. Yummy!
Flood prevention: pores in soil aggregates. Fungi use the carbon from the plant roots to make a kind of glue to attach themselves to particles so they will not be washed away. Other organisms attach themselves. These form "aggregates" or clumps of dirt that leave the soil porous, with space for water to pass through rather than run off the surface.
Cleaning water: Plant roots are nature's water filters. Hazels are such affective water filters that the USDA pays farmers to plant hazels along waterways. In healthy soil, microbes thrive. They produce pores. Yummy!
Flood prevention: pores in soil aggregates. Fungi use the carbon from the plant roots to make a kind of glue to attach themselves to particles so they will not be washed away. Other organisms attach themselves. These form "aggregates" or clumps of dirt that leave the soil porous, with space for water to pass through rather than run off the surface.