Hybrid Hazelnuts in the Midwest with Mark Shepard

The Midwest hazelnut market is well-positioned to expand dramatically as the global demand increases. One farmer, Mark Shepard, started growing hazelnuts on New Forest Farm in the early 90s as a research nursery devoted to breeding productive, hardy cold-climate hybrids. New Forest Farm is a commercial-scale, perennial agricultural ecosystem using oak savanna, successional brushland, and eastern woodlands as the ecological models. Check out this video and find out what Mark has learned after 30 years of growing hazelnuts. Want to learn more about hybrid hazelnuts in the Midwest? A new report by the Savanna Institute identifies ten major bottlenecks to Midwest hazelnut industry development and makes recommendations to prioritize investment and research dollars. Download the full report at savannainstitute.org/hazelnut-report