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. About 2,000 of the hazelnuts and 3,000 of the chestnuts have begun bearing. The chestnuts are hybrids, with multiple parents of both Chinese and American origin, Mr. Rutter said, but they are only marginally hardy in Zone 4 and not suited for commercial production in Wisconsin. Hazelnuts should be ordered early, Mr. Rutter said, to be sure of getting the varieties wanted. If the hazelnuts have weed control, water and fertilizer while they are becoming established, they can grow as much as 3 feet in the first year, Mr. Rutter said.