Civilization is facing global threats like never before. Climate instability. Food insecurity. The endangered family farm. Water pollution and scarcity. Mass extinction. Converting agricultural land into more secure, climate-stabilizing, water-filtering, wildlife-harboring farms would be positively transformative. Luckily, there is a way, currently under development, to do just this in many temperate climates: hybrid hazelnuts.

Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts is the first comprehensive guide for farmers interested in how to get started growing hybrid hazelnuts, a crop designed from the very outset to address a host of problems with conventional modern agriculture. Once hybrid hazelnuts are established, no plowing, or even cultivation, is necessary. Dramatically improved infiltration rates prevent water from running off of fields, regardless of soil type. The crop’s extensive, permanent root systems—at work 365 days a year—mean that tilling should not be necessary in moderately wet soils, and that no fertilizer can escape into groundwater. No soil is lost to wind or rain; in fact, this crop builds soil, and wildlife finds cover and food in hazelnuts all year. Economically speaking, hazelnuts have a large, existing, and unsatisfied world market, not to mention their processing potential is even greater than soybeans. They are, without a doubt, the ecological crop of the future.

This book covers everything you need to know about NeoHybrid hazels, the new biological entity developed by the authors, including:
• The source of the species and the making of an artificial, directed hybrid swarm;
• The historical use of hazels as a staple food in Europe and Asia;
• The nutrient composition of the crop;
• The benefits of woody agriculture and the superior productivity of these hazels;
• Site requirements: slope, soils, soil tests;
• Planting and the establishment period;
• Managing the productive plantation, including maintaining biodiversity;
• When to harvest, and harvesting options (hand or machine);
• Processing, from harvest to market: drying, husking, cleaning, sizing, cleaning, roasting;
• Value-added options (oil, meal, nut butters);
• Co-products and their values (wood, shells, husks, sub food-grade nuts, biodiesel);
• The state of the world hazel market, and more

The first and only guide of its kind, Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts will appeal to small-scale and commercial farmers, both those already familiar with concepts of perennial agriculture and those interested in converting from conventional practices. Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts is a landmark book for the farming movement, offering a practical road to a hopeful future where crops build soil and the earth is regenerated, at the same time reaping profits for the farmer.

About The Author

Philip Rutter is the chief scientist, founder, and CEO of Badgersett Research Farm; founding president of The American Chestnut Foundation; and past president of the Northern Nut Growers Association. He is an evolutionary ecologist, with a Masters and “ABD” (All But Dissertation of PhD) in zoology, with a minor in animal behavior. At one point he escaped from academia, when he discovered it was not his cup of cappuccino. With a parasitologist PhD advisor, he is deeply trained in the evolution of diseases and symbiotic systems.

Dr. Susan Wiegrefe is Badgersett’s research associate. She has a PhD in plant breeding and plant genetics and taught courses in plant propagation and nursery management for four years at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. Co-incorporator and past president of the North American branch of The Maple Society, her latest personal endeavor is as the owner and operator of Prairie Plum Farm, where she raises Babydoll sheep, fruit, and nuts, and soon will include an aquaponic vegetable/tilapia system. In her spare time she hangs out with her two Havanese dogs, when she’s not spinning or making cheese and beer.

Dr. Brandon Rutter-Daywater grew up on Badgersett Farm, eating some dirt but very few hazelnuts—they were all for seed! Dedicated to the long-term viability of the human race, and therefore our concomitant living things, his formal training is primarily in engineering and biologically inspired robotics. A national merit scholar upon graduating from high school, now he’s the COO at Badgersett, building a family and a house where he’s convinced he’ll be able to do the most good. He is now growing and eating a lot more hazelnuts!