I saw this story on Market to Market about the hazelnut industry in Oregon and thought some on here may enjoy it.

Nice little video there. I live about 5 blocks away from a filbert (hazelnut) drying operation and have known that family my whole life. They're just about done with this year's harvest now.

Right out of college I worked for the State of Oregon Ag Statistical Service measuring the filbert crop before harvest began. A lot of big out of state money investing in the crop these days. Hundreds of thousands of new acres being planted.

Definitely some work for ADC beaver guys around the orchards in the last few years.

That’s neat, I can see where a full time beaver trapper would be needed, those little trees/bush would be a beavers dream.

I have 7 varieties of blight resistant hazelnuts. Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and Michigan will continue to take more of Oregon's hazelnut market with American/European hybrid hazelnuts. A lot of superior, new varieties are being discovered.

Keith

In Oregon rather than being "discovered" they're being bred for blight resistance. The germ plasm repository has hazels from all over the world with varying characteristics including blight resistance.

So do they sell them locally or are they just shipped to Canada for the most part ?

It's almost entirely an export market. Blue diamond uses some in their mixes and find their way onto local markets.

Oh ok thank you for the quick response Beaver Peeler , I've been a addict of hazelnuts since I was a young kid so I had to ask .

California ground squirrels like to hoard the nuts, I was told by one farmer that once I trapped he gained 5 rows of nuts in the bad areas. Some rows are close to a mile in length.

wws

If you need some I can get you set up. The local dryer sells in-shell for pretty reasonable.

Beaverpeeler , I tried to send a message but you pm box is full .

OK, dang. I'll do some housekeeping.

BTW, the dryer near my place has some social media stuff I believe. Look up "Alvadore Dryer" Very good people there.

That sounds interesting I'll have to take a look , thank you !

If they don't ship let me know....I could get something going for you.

Can’t stand the things myself!

Picky eater. Don't like yogurt or clams either as I recall.

Yogurt and clams are delicious! But there was a time…..

Don’t worry Newhouse I can’t stand them either but wildlife loves them, I really thought the pickup machinery was pretty neat, and I always like seeing how other things are raised, that blight seems nasty but like the guy said today they have fungicides and know what to do to keep the tree alive.

Even with coppers, etc you can't keep Barcelonas or Ennis alive for too long. The new wave of blight resistant cultivars have a lot going for them.

As far as machinery goes we've come a long way. I recall when men with push brooms had to sweep under the trees to the aisles for a machine to pick nuts up. It's all accomplished with blowers and vacuums now. Nobody has to get down off a tractor any more.

I appreciate it Beaver peeler , I'll try getting a hold of them later in the week when it settles down or so I hope ha ha !