OSU scores grant to expand hazelnut research
Oregon State University’s hazelnut research program was awarded a $3.1 million in a round of USDA grants announced Aug. 2.
The five-year grant will be used to continue hazelnut research at OSU, where breeder Shawn Mehlenbacher is credited with saving the industry by developing varieties resistant to Eastern filbert blight. Mehlenbacher, who submitted the grant application, could not be immediately reached for comment.
OSU’s grant proposal indicated the money would be used to expand commercial hazelnut production in the U.S. The work will focus on the Pacific Northwest, where Oregon accounts for nearly all of U.S. production and growers have added 3,000 acres since 2009; the temperate “fruit belt” region of the eastern U.S., where new blight-resistant cultivars are expected to be released in three to four years; and the Midwest and Great Plains, where new hybrids are being identified that have superior nut quality, yield, and adaptation to demanding climates, according to a news release.
OSU’s application describes hazelnuts as a “profitable, high-value, low input, sustainable crop for which steadily increasing world demand now exceeds supply.”
Producers and consumers are enthusiastic about increased U.S. production, the grant application says, but susceptibility to Eastern filbert blight remains a problem. In addition, existing cultivars lack climatic adaptability, which severely limits production in the East and Midwest and threatens the sustainability of production in Oregon, according to the application.
OSU’s grant application said there is a $3.26 billion national and international market for hazelnuts and “powerful environmental and economic benefits” would be generated by large-scale production of hazelnut hybrids.
“Hazelnuts are an ideal choice to integrate into profitable, sustainable agricultural or agro-forestry production systems, and are family-friendly for small producers focused on local food issues,” the application states. Hazelnuts could become a third crop in the Midwest and Great Plains, joining corn and soybeans, and would have considerable value as a specialty crop in the Eastern states, according to the application.
Hazelnuts require relatively few inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides, can be grown without irrigation in many areas and don’t require honeybees for pollination, according to OSU. Hazelnut kernels are a healthy food, have a long storage life and open up “robust local-to-international markets” for a variety of value-added products, according to OSU.
The grant money comes from the Specialty Crop Research Initiative that was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The grant program is coordinated by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. OSU’s hazelnut grant was one of 19 nationally, worth a total of $36.5 million.