His Canton, Minn., farm now sells both plants and harvested nuts, as well as chestnut seedlings. But Mr. Rutter has a much broader vision, and hazelnuts and chestnuts have been as much a vehicle for his goal as a goal in themselves. Woody crops, he said, address several current problems in the interactions of people, crops and the environment. Planted only once every 25 years or more, hazelnuts build soil, reduce erosion and, once established, have far-lower input costs compared to annual crops. Woody plants also fix more carbon dioxide than do annual crops, Mr. Rutter said, and so have the potential to reduce the pace of global warming.
Hazelnuts are resistant to flood and drought, and have few disease problems or serious pests.
In Third World areas where wood is the primary fuel, Mr. Rutter said his bush-type hazelnuts can provide fuel from prunings or an occasional cutting back to the ground. Badgersett hazelnuts are also well suited for use in windbreaks, living snow fences, riparian buffer strips, wildlife plantings and ally cropping, he said. And with world demand far outstripping hazelnut production, the bushes are a high-value alternative crop for farmers struggling with low commodity prices. Hazelnuts are native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. The wild species are tough, bush-like plants that grow in a wide variety of soils and survive extreme climatic conditions, and are frequently resistant to Eastern filbert blight, the bane of hazelnut growers.