Hazelnuts, an Alternative Crop for Farmers

Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on September 18, 2007

Last Sunday, September 16, I took two friends to look at Jeff Jensen’s hazelnut plantings in Fenton, Iowa, just across the border on hwy 169. Jeff works with Rural Advantage, an organization committed to developing alternative crops, or “third crop” options that are more economically and environmentally sustainable.

The purpose of the trip was to introduce these two Latino market gardeners to an alternative crop, but not only that, our plan involves economics, the environment, dealing with drought, reducing production cost per unit of biomass produced per acre, etc.

Hazelnuts (Filberts) form part of a new agriculture system called “woody agriculture“, a new generation of farmers concerned with making a living off the land while managing their lands in a way that does not deteriorate the quality of lives of others (avoiding or reducing pollution of waterways, soil erosion, carbon emissions through reduced machinery use, etc.).

Woody agriculture also allows livestock, such as broilers and egg laying hens to be free ranged, in between the established plants, help with weed and insect control and fertilize the crops (at least this is my theory based on a small experiment this year).

A group of us in Northfield are pursuing this option starting with the establishment of a 2.5 acre planting of hazelnuts this fall, we picked 450 hazels at Jeff’s place in Fenton, IA and will be planting them this coming weekend (weather permitting). We also plan to grow vegetables in between the rows until the hazels are 4 or 5 years old, at that point we will plant a perennial cover and raise broilers and egg laying hens. Through this system we plan to not only to get a crop of nuts that will compete on a per acre yield basis with soybeans, but there will be no tilling, and we will avoid other issues associated with conventional agriculture (pollution, soil erosion, overuse of machinery, soil compaction, etc.).

Wish us good luck or scratch your head, but if in doubt, come visit us and check this out yourself. In recent months, I have also been talking to a friend in Castle Rock who has installed an oil press so we can produce hazelnut oil instead of selling the nuts. The byproduct of this process can also serve as livestock feed, so maybe we will even be able to recycle the hazelnut crop and produce two or three harvests of free range broilers on top of the regular crop, all from the same piece of land while improving the soil, capturing CO2 out of the air and providing a nice looking landscape.

At the end, it is only through ideas like this that we will build a local food system that can be sustained for the long haul, hazels are also native to Minnesota, develop roots that can reach down deep making them drought tolerant, resist flooding, high speed winds (plant is very flexible and hard) and are productive up to 30 years.