Final report for ONE24-463
Project Information
The objective of this project was to preserve and expand the genetic diversity of valuable nut trees in the Northeast by locating outstanding Juglandaceae family trees on farms and helping to channeling their seeds into the regional seed supply. Focused in Yates County, NY, the project engaged with local farm families to identify and assess healthy 150-yr-old on-farm nut trees. A standardized and replicable assessment approach was developed, 41 trees were assessed, over 1,400 pounds of raw seed was collected, and collaborations to support genetic testing, conservation and ongoing project outreach were established. Systemic barriers to greater utilization of on-farm nuts were identified and discussed. The project outreach plan was revised mid-project to be more responsive to farmer needs and more directly address identified barriers to increased utilization of on-farm nuts. The revised plan involved the creation of an online marketplace to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers and the development of a handbook which discusses nut gathering and preparation for sale as food or seed. Both the online marketplace (The Northeast Nutweb) and the handbook (Preparing Wild Hickories and Walnuts for Storage, Sale, or Planting) are included as project-linked information products.
This project will broaden and strengthen the genetic base of Juglandacae family trees (walnut, hickory, pecan) in the Northeast long-term. This will be accomplished by identifying preferred seed trees in the Juglandacae family on Yates County, NY area farmsteads and providing a path through which host farm families can route seeds from their superior trees directly into the regional seed supply.
At least 25 farm families will be engaged, at least 40 trees will be evaluated using defined field protocols and at least 10 trees will be prioritized for seed collection. Seed will be collected and processed and the resulting seeds shall enter the regional seed supply. Summarized tree data collected, seed selection approach, source tree locations and local growing conditions will be documented and detailed in the project report. Protocols for mutually beneficial annually recurring seed gathering will be established with farm families whose land hosts prioritized trees. Because there are a lot of tree species in the Juglandaceae family, if a few species must be prioritized, the project will prioritize black walnut, butternut, shagbark hickory, bitternut hickory and shellbark hickory, if found. Shellbark hickory may not be present in the project area.
Nut tree genetic heritage developed on old farmsteads over past centuries is being lost right when we need it to launch the next generation of trees. At present, we are pushing new agricultural approaches forward while continuing to push the existing system to deliver everything it delivered previously and more. The economics of conventional farming incentivizes farmers to bring online as many productive acres as possible, including land that may currently host old mast-bearing trees. At the same time, implementation of agroforestry and afforestation is ramping up, increasing demand for mast-bearing tree seed and seedlings. In order to ensure that the broad range of genetic diversity embedded in the population of old, healthy nut trees left standing is passed down to the next generation of trees, we must continue to identify and preserve key seed trees and route seeds from those trees into the general seed and seedling supply, along with detailed information regarding seed source.
The project focused on Juglandaceae family trees (walnut, hickory) growing on farms in or near Yates County, NY. The Juglandaceae family was selected because there are wild trees in this family whose genetics merit conservation and replication without the need for a dedicated breeding program. These species are in general shade intolerant or only moderately shade tolerant and tend to cluster in the areas historically occupied by people. They are much more likely to be found on sites where the canopy has been disturbed, like farms, than areas that have long been covered with forest. For this reason, a greater fraction of the genetic heritage of these species resides on private, not public land, and is likely weighted towards historic farmsteads as farm families generations ago would have intentionally planted some of these trees with intent to use the nuts grown for personal or livestock consumption.
This project positively impacts almost every aspect of sustainable agriculture. Because nut trees are perennial plants, growing nut trees improves soil conservation and soil health because there is no need for annual soil disturbance. Wild walnut and hickory trees require zero or minimal chemical inputs to thrive, reducing long-term chemical exposure risks for both people and planet. If farm families can realize some income from nut trees which hadn’t been previously utilized for such purposes, a boost to farm family income is created and that boost will be independent of their primary income stream(s). In terms of quality of life, everyone loves a beautiful, healthy tree but a great tree can be loved even more if the family that owns it is aware that their tree is an important contributor to regional tree population genetics. A tree that a family is proud to own will be cared for and left standing.
Cooperators
- - Producer
- (Educator)
- - Producer
- (Educator)
- - Producer
Research
Trees were assessed using this Tree Assessment Form was developed by the project.
In addition to the information about each tree collected using this form, the age of each tree was estimated using the following methodology:
Step 1: Figure out the diameter of the tree at about four and a half feet above the ground.
Step 2: Validate the tree type (black walnut, shagbark hickory, etc).
Step 3: Estimate the age of the tree by multiplying the diameter by the growth factor for that type of tree (see below).
GROWTH FACTORS
4.5: Walnuts (including black walnut, butternut)
7.0: Hickories (shagbark, shellbark, pignut)
In 2025, the project determined that a growth factor of 4.5 was inappropriate for butternut. The correct growth factor is unknown and a growth factor of 4.5 is likely to overestimate butternut tree age. Butternut tree age estimates based on trunk diameter have been disregarded.
Because one premise of this project was that trees that produce tastier nuts would be trees worth propagating, assessing nut quality to see if there were individual trees which produces markedly tastier nuts was a key aspect of this project. This Black Walnut Taste Test Form was developed so that volunteer tasters could provide feedback on the relative preferability of the taste of black walnuts from specific trees. Black walnuts from 7 very old (150+ years) trees was collected in 2024 and hulled and cured in a standard manner. 10 black walnut tasters were provided with a sample from each tree plus a sample of our regular black walnuts which is sourced from an undifferentiated mix of trees. This intent of this tasting exercise was a qualitative ranking, not a quantitative ranking.
41 trees were assessed, meaning that tree information was collected. For black walnuts and hickory tree species, assessed trees were predominantly on Yates County, NY area farms. Because it was a struggle to find any particularly old butternut trees on Yates County farms that were not severely impacted by butternut canker disease (BCD), the inclusion of any mature butternut trees in the region which appeared reasonably healthy was allowed. Butternut trees included in this project are therefore associated with a much wider geographic spread. This project impacted more trees than those directly assessed because most project participants have many trees and so can qualitatively compare trees that weren't assessed to their assessed tree(s).
Two sets of lab analyses were commissioned. The first set was germination rate testing, conducted by the USDA Forest Service team at the National Seed Laboratory in Dry Branch, GA. Germination rate testing was conducted for black walnuts and butternuts. The second set was butternut tree genetic testing, conducted by the research team at the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center, Purdue University. Butternut tree leaf samples were collected in the summer of 2025 and genetic testing revealed the degree to which each tree is hybrid (vs. pure butternut). Most butternut trees on the landscape now which appear healthy, and therefore are most likely to be butternut canker disease-resistant, are wild hybrids, typically butternut / Japanese walnut hybrids. The degree to which trees are hybridized affects the desirability of the seed and cannot be determined from visual inspection.
With the exception of the butternut leaf genetic testing, this project's methodology can be replicated by anyone. Certain tree assessment questions cannot be answered if the tree's leaves have already fallen.
The first set of lab results received were germination rate testing results, with work conducted by the USDA Forest Service, National Seed Laboratory in Dry Branch, GA. Each state has a seed law that regulates the requirements for seed sales in that state. While tree and shrub seed aren’t always mentioned in state seed laws specifically, New York State has clear requirements. Labels for New York State tree seed must include the following information (1) The kind of seed and the variety, (2) The percentage by weight of pure seed, (3) The percentage of germination, (4) The year of seed collection, and (5) The specific locality in which the seed was collected (state and county in the United States). In general, if states don't have specific tree seed labeling requirements, it is assumed that sellers should to honor the spirit of general seed labeling guidance and provide the purchaser with purity and germination rate information. While there is flexibility regarding the methodology used to estimate a germination rate and no requirement for germination rate testing to be conducted by a third party, a credible result is required. The most credible approach is to have the work conducted by an expert. The USFS operates a tree seed testing lab through which tree seed germination rate tests can be commissioned. This report, which is the result of this project's butternut germination rate test, shows the format in which data is reported. Using the reported viability percentage as the reported germination rate on a tree seed label is acceptable. Germination rate testing, which measures germination rate directly, is understood to be the most reliable indicator of seed lot performance. A cut test, where a sample set of seeds are cut open and physically inspected, is another acceptable way to estimate germination rate. A seed purity test is somewhat meaningless for nut tree seed because any contamination of the seeds with some other type of seed should be obvious to the consumer. For that reason, a seed purity test was not commissioned by this project. Seed purity tests are more meaningful for small seeds where there is a much greater chance of inclusion of some unintended seed type, like weed seeds. Germination rate testing results were used for seed quality reporting, not research.
The second set of lab analyses conducted was genetic testing of butternut tree leaf samples. Leaf samples were collected in the summer of 2025 and genetic testing of these samples was intended to reveal the degree to which each tree is hybrid butternut (vs. pure butternut). Most butternut trees on the landscape which appear healthy, and therefore are most likely to be resistant to butternut canker, are wild hybrids, typically butternut / Japanese walnut hybrids. The degree to which trees are hybridized affects the desirability of the seed and this cannot be determined from visual inspection. Twelve butternut tree leaf samples were collected in the summer of 2025 for genetic testing. Of these, six were found to be pure butternut (not hybrid) and six were found to be hybrid. Of the trees that were found to be hybrid, one was found to be 64% butternut (Juglans cinerea), one was found to be 50% butternut, and three were 20% butternut. Due to uncertainty regarding the coordinates of twelfth sample, that sample (found to be 28% butternut) has been disregarded. The implications of these lab testing results are discussed in the following section of this report.
Butternut leaf genetic testing results support conclusions previously reached by many researchers, which is that several generations of butternut hybrids have naturally developed on the landscape, that many trees have a complex hybridization background, and that tree appearance and nut morphology are insufficient indicators of the degree of hybridization in butternut trees. This Purdue Extension Guide to the Identification of Butternuts and Butternut Hybrids provides the best and most definitive guidance available at present to visually determine whether a particular tree is a pure or hybrid butternut. Following this guide is complicated and would lead to a layperson to a conclusion that their tree is "probably butternut" or "probably hybrid". It will not lead to an estimation of the degree to which a particular tree has hybridized.
The objective for this project was to identify on-farm walnut-family trees which could serve as superior seed trees and develop a permanent path to market for these seeds. The research component of this project was only partially successful in achieving this objective. These results will enable the future collection of seed from previously untested mother trees with a rich butternut genome (in this case, all trees with 64% butternut genome or more). Planting seeds from these tested trees appears unlikely to add meaningful risk of landscape-level loss of butternut tree genetic diversity. However, these results will not provide assurance that trees grown from this seed will demonstrate BCD resistance. Because it is seed customer perception of BCD resistance that drives butternut tree seed value, it cannot be claimed that "premium" seed was identified.
Education & outreach activities and participation summary
Participation summary:
On May 20, 2025, in cooperation with Yates and Schuyler County Farm Bureau, an expert-led on-farm silvopasture tour featuring working trees was held at Angus Glen Farms in Watkins Glen, NY, a guided walk led by farmer Brett Chezdoy. There were 56 attendees. Brett and his family maintain a large cow-calf grass-fed herd on 500 acres of rotationally grazed pasture and silvopasture (pastures with well-spaced trees) to improve the soil, forest and forage health while protecting the world-famous watershed of the Watkins Glen State Park gorge and Seneca Lake. In winter months, cows “bale graze” across the farm for nutrient management and animal welfare benefits. In summer, cattle are strategically grazed through silvopasture areas for shade and comfort. The demonstration showed how incorporating working trees on the farm, including nut trees, could not only bring environmental benefit to the landscape but also benefit the farm operation overall, in terms of improved animal health that leads to lower medical bills, lower feed bills and lower energy costs. While it is unlikely that this single event resulted in additional tree planting, it did effectively showcase how trees could benefit cattle farmers and many attendees mentioned that they found the event interesting and insightful.
On Dec 2-4, 2025, interim project results and beta testing an of online tool this project developed to help to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers were shared with the agricultural community at the New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) State Annual Convention, "Navigating Your Ag Future", held at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY. An Exhibitor's booth was staffed for 14 hours (8:00 am - 6:00 pm, Dec 3 and 8:00 am - 12 pm, Dec 4) and visited frequently by attendees. Over 300 people attended the conference and 30 individuals intentionally sought out the booth and engaged in direct conversation about the project. Most were farmers and some were agricultural service providers. The idea that more needs to be done to utilize on-farm nuts universally resonated. Interim project results were presented. Farmer feedback about the online tool to help to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers was collected. While there was no negative feedback received about the idea of creating an online listing tool for underutilized on-farm nuts and 6 new listings were added to the tool, some farmers declined to create a listing on the tool at the time mostly due to concerns that the tool wouldn’t be effective long-term, time constraints, or concerns related to using an online tool. The poster that was used to present interim project results during this convention is linked below.
ONE24-463 Interim project results (poster)
Project outreach will continue after the project concludes and will be digital. A working version of the Northeast Nutweb, the online marketplace to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers trialed at the Dec 2-5, 2025 New York Farm Bureau (NYFB) State Annual Convention, is live and currently hosted on the New York Nut Growers Association website. There are no ongoing hosting costs and anyone interested in using the tool can access it for free. If enough nut growers use this tool, it will make regional on-farm nut supply more transparent and therefore more accessible to potential buyers, who could then set pricing. The published tool can be accessed here: http://www.nynga.org/Nutweb.htm. In addition to this tool, this project produced a handbook to help guide farmers and others through the process of collecting and preparing wild harvested nuts for storage, sale, cracking, or planting. This handbook includes sections on gathering, husking/hulling, float testing, drying and storage. Practices being applied at various scales (personal-scale, farmstand-scale, co-op scale) are highlighted. The need for a handbook on this topic was recognized through farmer engagement and presents options which could realistically be adopted by most farmers. 10 additional farmers not otherwise engaged by this project were engaged to gather information or material used in this handbook. This handbook can be downloaded from the final section of this report.
Learning Outcomes
In 2024, the project engaged 20 tree owners, 16 of which were farm families, predominantly but not exclusively farming in Yates County, NY. Of these farm families, one participant identifies as a beginning / woman farmer and the project benefited from engagement with 7 Mennonite family farms. 25 trees were assessed and more trees were nominated and visited than were assessed. In this case, assessment means that information about specific trees was collected and saved. In 2025, given that butternut is the earliest-falling native nut in the walnut family and that the collection season for butternut was mostly missed in 2024 due to the timing of project kickoff, farmer engagement focused specifically on butternut trees. This led to the project directly engaging 6 additional tree owners, 5 of which were farmers. 16 additional trees were assessed, a few of which were additional assessed trees on farms that had been visited in 2024.
In general, farm families do not consider the nuts grown by nut trees like black walnut, butternut, or hickory to be an asset to the farm. If Juglandaceae family trees are growing on a farm, they are typically yard trees, field edge trees or woodlot trees. For areas that aren’t maintained (ex: woodlots), they are typically seen as a wildlife benefit but not a contributor to farm operations and in areas that are maintained, they are typically seen as a nuisance. While many families were aware that nuts from these trees are edible, the nuts from only two trees assessed was typically consumed and the idea of having nuts from these trees serve as seed was a new idea. The possibility that value could be created from nuts from these trees was seen as an interesting and worth further discussion across the board. Many farm families were surprised and impressed by the age of some of their trees. Many trees over 200 years old were identified. Given that Yates County just celebrated its bicentennial, these trees pre-date the founding of the County.
Project Outcomes
This project was designed to test the viability of increased utilization of on-farm native walnut and hickory nuts for tree seed. In 2024, the project collected 1306 lbs of raw seed (427 lbs after the seeds were hulled and the bad ones discarded). Species collected included black walnut, butternut, shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, pignut hickory and a small amount of red oak (by special request from a farmer, red oak is not a Juglandaceae family tree). An additional 115 lbs of butternut (hulled weight) was collected in 2025.
As a project outcome, nine farm families adopted a new practice, which is a plan to continue to gather nuts from their trees on an ongoing basis. The degree to which these farmers want to be involved in post-gathering nut processing varies greatly. Some farmers prefer to give a third party access to the trees and let that third party gather nuts. Some farmers prefer to gather their own nuts but require that a third party pick up and transport gathered nuts. Some farmers are willing to both gather and deliver nuts but don't want to be involved in post-gathering processing. One farmer who participated in this project purchased a huller and, going forward, intends to gather, hull and cure the nuts from her four acres of black walnuts and sell them all as a ready-to-crack product (food, not seed), a major change to her annual routine. These four acres of trees were not being tended, and in 2025 she cleared the acreage of vines and underbrush and began mowing. Through her efforts, four acres of mature black walnut trees have been reclaimed to serve as agricultural trees going forward.
Gathered tree seed needs a market and the value of tree seed was found to vary dramatically by buyer. Market research suggests that the market for tree seed naturally segments into publicly funded tree nurseries (for example, many states operate their own tree nurseries), wholesale buyers (who will grow out the seed themselves or resell it to retail buyers) and retail buyers. Of these, publicly funded tree nurseries tend to pay the lowest prices for seed. However, the prices that publicly funded nurseries will pay for tree seed is generally published online or, at minimum, available upon request. There is no published list of wholesale buyers of tree seed but reaching out to nearby tree-growing operations on a 1:1 basis, or general networking, appears to be the most effective way to learn more about these potential tree seed customers. Many mid-scale tree nurseries located in the Northeast and growing native nut trees self-supply seed through their own collection efforts or through a network of trusted seed gatherers that they have developed over years. Retail tree seed prices can be inferred from online search results. Using black walnut as the basis for developing some scaling factors, we found that the tree seed prices offered by publicly funded nurseries are well below those offered by wholesale seed buyers and that retail buyers will pay on the order of three times as much as wholesale buyers. The information on which this was based was that The Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery, whose operations are managed by the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, will pay gatherers $8/bushel for black walnuts. This is an in-hull weight that likely translates to $.50/lb for the seed. Through personal conversations, we assume that wholesale buyers will pay $1.50-$2.50/lb but are likely to expect that this price includes the cost of shipping. Online prices for black walnut seed can range from $5-$20/lb. Black walnut, which is regionally abundant and easily collected across much of the Northeast, yields on the order of 30 seeds per pound after hulling and so the cost of shipping is an important consideration. Hickory seeds, which tend to be much smaller, likely have double the value of black walnut seeds. Butternut tree seed is an exception. Due to the risk or perceived risk of butternut canker disease (BCD), there is very little demand for generic butternut tree seed as it is generally assumed that new butternut trees planted will succumb to BCS. However, butternut tree seed which a customer believes will be resistant to BCD is a highly valuable seed with a retail value which can exceed $50/lb. More research into how BCD can be managed and which builds upon the decades of progress that the research community has already made is critical and should be accelerated, if possible.
There is no significant farmer opposition to the idea of increased utilization of nuts from on-farm native nut trees, although the level of interest in being personally involved varies from farmer to farmer. More farmers would adopt the practice of greater utilization of on-farm tree nuts if barriers were addressed. Because barriers to increased utilization of on-farm nuts are mostly systemic and outside of the control of individual farmers, widespread adoption of increased farmer utilization on on-farm tree nuts is unlikely to be observed until these systemic barriers are addressed. Opportunities to make progress towards barrier mitigation were also identified. The three key barrier categories identified are listed below as well as two key opportunities.
Barrier 1: A lack of transparency regarding seed pricing and seed buyer requirements (both regulatory and practical) disincentivizes farmer / small-scale participation in the tree seed market. Farmers don’t know what their tree seeds are worth and they aren’t sure they can deliver their tree seeds in the condition buyers want. Also, for most farmers, the possible value of the nuts from a few trees is small compared to other farm income streams. Unless there is known value associated with collecting the nuts, the additional effort is not justified. Because the tree seed market is generally opaque, there is no easy way for a farmer to know the value of their nuts. Because farmers are currently disadvantaged by this information asymmetry, at this time, they need an intermediary that can provide them with a firm value for their nut collection efforts. Black Squirrel Farms is currently that intermediary for the nine farm families who adopted a new practice as a result of this project. Recognizing that the solution to opacity is transparency, this project modified the original post-conclusion outreach plan to include the development of an online tool to connect nut growers and consumers across the Northeast was developed and published. Any producer of tree nut products, whether that’s a seed, a seedling or a food product, can list that product for free as a targeted way to reach potential customers. Through partnership with Open Food Network (OFN), the platform on which this tool has been built, there are no ongoing post-project costs associated with keeping this tool active. OFN is a non-profit with a mission to remove the barriers to entry in the marketplace found in commercial software for farmers, food producers, and community hubs and this project is seen to be in line with that mission. Also through partnership, this tool, the Northeast Nutweb, is being hosted on the New York Nut Growers Association (NYNGA) website, at no cost. NYNGA, a non-profit with a mission to educate people on the benefits of nut trees and to provide cultural information to assist in growing nut trees, is interested in hosting this tool due to the possibility that it will aid with future organizational recruitment and to support regional nut growing. Potentially interested buyers can explore existing farm profiles using the map or search for specific nut products through the shop page. Interested nut product sellers, like farmers with underutilized trees, can create a listing by completing a survey linked here. The Northeast Nutweb supports making new connections, not facilitating sales, and there are no fees associated with joining or using the Nutweb. The Nutweb’s home page is here.
Barrier 2: The regional tree seed market is limited by the scale and scope of tree nursery operations as well as end-customer buying habits. Most of the trees that get planted are sourced from a nursery and planted as saplings, not as directly sown seed. Therefore, nurseries are the largest consumers of tree seed and their seed sourcing decisions drive demand. Northeast native nut trees are a niche component of the total tree nursery market and so the number of nut tree seedlings that are grown each year is very small compared to the number of total trees. Most yard trees are selected by homeowners and landscaping service providers for their anticipated appearance, which could mean fall color, flowers, shading potential or growth habit. Most orchard trees are selected by agriculturalists for their expected yield, the market value of that yield and the anticipated requirements to produce that yield. Tree species that are grown for timber are selected for their rapid growth; native Northeastern nut trees are slow growing trees by comparison. Northeastern walnut and hickory species tend to be unimproved, multi-functional trees. Rather than delivering the most beautiful fall color, the most spectacular flowers, the quickest path to shade, or the most abundant food or fiber yields, they provide a little bit of everything. This makes it difficult for native nut trees to compete in marketplaces that value specialization, and this may be a contributing factor to their low demand compared to other types of trees. Restoration and reforestation projects are the most likely end-customer to seek out Northeastern native nut tree seedlings for planting.
Most operational tree nurseries already have established seed sources which would need to be displaced in order to create demand for more seed from on-farm nut trees. In the US, tree seedling production is heavily concentrated in the southeast. One recent study (Fargione, Joseph, et al. “Challenges to the Reforestation Pipeline in the United States.” Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, vol. 4, 2021, article 629198. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.629198) offers detailed insight into some of the factors driving this dynamic, as well as the degree of the disparity. The much larger timber industry that operates in the US Southeast is a significant driver. However, the large southern nurseries that serve the commercial timber industry are also well positioned to cost-effectively serve other customers, like landscaping companies, nursery stock resellers and online retail customers. Smaller operations with a more limited growing season are hard-pressed to compete on price. Publicly funded tree nurseries frequently offer lower-priced trees but also often limit their sales by customer type or total order size. Large southern tree nurseries tend to get the seed for the species they sell in large quantities from specialized seed orchards and seed production areas. Seed for species planted in lower volume, such as unimproved native nut trees, are much more likely to rely on wild-collected seeds and nurseries that operate in the Northeast are much more likely to rely on wild seed in general. The 2021 study implication most relevant to this project is that northeastern tree nurseries currently do not produce enough stock to meet regional demand for native nut tree seedlings. This conclusion is supported by informal conversations with a number of individuals involved in agroforestry and forest restoration work.
Barrier 3: If a more significant regional tree seed market opportunity did exist, grower confidence gaps regarding tree identification, best practices for nut collection, handling, processing, storage, testing, packaging, and seed certification or labeling requirements would become a barrier to market growth. In order to address this information gap for the tree species that were the focus of this study, a handbook has been developed which discusses currently applied approaches at the farm scale for tree seed gathering practices and preparation for sale as food or seed. This handbook is included as an information product linked with this study. This information is available but highly fragmented and so the purpose of the handbook is to centralize it and make it more accessible. The scope of this handbook does not include tree identification because there are many high-quality resources already available on this topic at a price point that makes the information widely accessible. The handbook, “Preparing Wild Hickories and Walnuts for Storage, Sale, or Planting” is included as an information product linked with this study.
Opportunity 1: Aggregating native nuts for any purpose, especially food, can be synergistic with efforts to aggregate nuts for tree seed and an opportunity for increased utilization on on-farm tree nuts. Aggregation programs can reduce the average cost of seed gathering and the larger quantities of seed handled makes the development and implementation of quality assessment standards easier. Using wild nuts to create a product, especially a food product, increases the general perception of that tree as a useful tree, a helpful frame for tree species not often selected for planting due to other characteristics. Therefore, development of these markets and products are complementary, not competitive, to developing a deeper market for tree seed from on-farm nut trees. One recent example of how using native nuts to create a food product drives planting demand is bitternut (yellowbud) hickory. Small-scale efforts to gather and press oil from this type of hickory nut are starting to gain regional traction. Planting interest in bitternut (yellowbud) hickory has increased accordingly. Increased planting interest drives an increase in demand for tree seed.
Opportunity 2: Our results can be used to optimize the design of future tree assessment and seed gathering efforts. Any seed gathering effort involves choosing seed and ideally, the most worthy seeds are those that are gathered for propagation. Realistically, every seed collection effort must decide how best to deal with limited information seed availability and propagation desirability and finite collection capacity. Our project suggests that the following guidelines can be applied to future work:
a) “Ease of gathering” is the most practical way to rank the probability that nuts from any particular tree will be gathered. This implies that prioritizing future on-farm tree assessment and gathering work according to the following ranking 1) Yard trees (highest priority), 2) Field edge and/or hedgerow trees (medium priority), 3) Woodlot trees (lowest priority) would be a pragmatic approach.
b) If feasible, a seed gathering strategy which prioritizes gathering from the healthy offspring of remarkably old, still-healthy trees would be preferred over gathering directly from the remarkably old trees themselves. The quality of seed from very old black walnut trees (average age ~175 yrs, some old enough to have been standing since before Yates County was founded in 1823) was found to be inferior to the quality of seed from intermediate-age trees, implying an age-related decline in reproductive capacity, a surprising result. It is assumed that the same pattern would hold for other Juglandaceae family trees. An associated taste test of nuts from these very old black walnut trees compared to our standard product, which is an undifferentiated mix of black walnuts from regional trees which involved 10 testers sampling the walnuts from 7 very old black walnut trees plus a control sample which was our standard black walnut product. While the hope was that certain trees could be identified as producing superior flavor nuts, which would imply that these trees were producing superior seed, no pattern was discerned from the results. Attributing this result to tree age or simply natural variability in nut flavor is beyond the scope of this project. How tree age impacts nut flavor appears to be an under-studied topic. An example of an ancient tree surrounded by healthy apparent offspring was found in Yates County agriculturalist Brian Cunningham’s woods, where a 200+ yr old healthy black walnut tree was surrounded by many younger black walnut trees in a growing pattern suggestive of squirrel dispersal of nuts from the ancient tree.
c) The best way to locate new, interesting nut trees on farms is to talk to farmers. While this may seem intuitive, an effort to find new trees often starts with a landscape analysis exercise which predicts the habitat most likely to support a target species. The location and condition of on-farm trees, where human intervention was likely to have influenced planting, don’t conform as closely to this kind of predictive modeling results as trees in more natural landscapes do. Therefore, using the best scientific data to predict the region where target species would be expected to grow combined on-the-ground farmer knowledge to locate notable on-farm trees within that region is recommended.
To support project execution, six working collaborations were explored and all were established. 1) The first collaboration explored was with the National Collection of Genetic Resources for Pecans, maintained by the USDA National Plant Germplasm System, Pecan Breeding & Genetics Program. The project contributed hickory seed to the National Collection and these seeds were integrated into their conservation research program. This was a successful partnership and likely also limited in scope because how to collaborate on an ongoing basis once this project closes is not clear. 2). This project explored collaborating with a North Central SARE-supported project that also relied on native tree seed collection, a project focused on developing acorn flour processing capability. In 2024, this project collected 50 lbs of red oak acorns to support the North Central SARE-supported project and would have collaborated in 2025 to collect additional acorns but the 2025 acorn crop in Yates County, NY did not materialize. This partnership was successful but limited in duration. 3) The project explored collaboration with Dr. Aziz Ebrahimi, a post-doctoral fellow at Purdue University doing butternut tree research. The Purdue lab is currently conducting genetic testing of butternut tree leaves collected by this project in the summer 2025, an exercise which led to discussion of further collaboration and which ultimately led to the co-development of a 2026 NE SARE Research and Education program proposal to facilitate demonstration plantings of canker-resistent butternut on New York State farms. While this proposal was declined, it received high marks from reviewers, leaving the door open for future re-application. 4) The fourth collaboration explored by this project happened by chance. Two of the farmers engaged by this project at New York Farm Bureau State Annual Convention on Dec 2 - 4, 2025, are mushroom farmers, interested in testing whether certain kinds of mushrooms will grow well on a nutshell substrate. This concept is being tested now, with nutshells provided by Black Squirrel Farms, and shows promise. While this collaboration will not impact farmers using on-farm nuts for tree seed, their success could grow future demand for native tree nuts and testing is ongoing. 5) This project explored collaboration with Open Food Network (OFN) as a host platform for the Northeast Nutweb, an online marketplace developed by this project to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers, and OFN is currently providing a platform for this tool free of charge. 6) This project explored collaboration with the New York Nut Growers Association (NYNGA) as a host website for the Northeast Nutweb, an online marketplace developed by this project to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers, and the NYNGA is currently hosting this tool free of charge.
A grant was received that builds upon this project. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCE Tompkins) implemented a 2026 agroforestry apprenticeship program in collaboration with Wellspring Forest Farm and Interlace Commons. Apprentices will learn the basics of agroforestry and gain on-the-job training in two possible career paths essential to scaling agroforestry efforts: tree nursery production, and tree planting and management. One apprentice in this program will construct air-pruned raised beds and grow the butternut seed collected in 2025 by this project in those beds as their hands-on learning project associated with this CCE Tompkins-led program.
This project achieved its primary objectives of demonstrating that there is significant undiscovered nut tree species richness on Northeast farms and considerable farmer interest in realizing non-timber value from these trees. The only change between the proposed and implemented methodology concerns the project’s post-conclusion outreach strategy. The original proposal envisioned developing a website to host the tree data collected, making this information available to the research community. The revised approach involved the creation of an online marketplace to connect nut tree growers with nut tree collectors and buyers and the development of a handbook which discusses nut gathering and preparation for sale as food or seed. This revised approach was determined to be more responsive to farmer needs and to more directly address some of the barriers to increased utilization of on-farm nuts that were identified as the project proceeded. Both information products are intended to be used on an ongoing basis and improved as needed and both would benefit from additional investment. Barriers associated with tree nursery capacity limitations and/or end-user tree buying habits were not addressed by this project. People often make tree planting decisions based on surprisingly little information about the trees themselves and/or their fit to the planting site. This is well known and many worthy efforts have produced helpful, informative guidance. However, the gap persists. Innovative approaches which do not duplicate previous work or somehow aggregate previous work for more efficient information dissemination could improve the situation.
Additional butternut-specific work is critical because all the regular rules just don’t apply to butternut and time is running out. The project was based on the assumption that tree resilience is related to longevity and that selecting for resilience leads to desirable seeds. While this appears true for most Juglandaceae family tree species, because butternut trees are under existential threat from butternut canker disease (BCD), butternut tree resiliency is more closely related to degree of canker resistance.
Butternut is a faster-growing tree than other walnut family native trees and drops seed earlier in the season. Also known as white walnut and oilnut, butternut is the most cold-tolerant native walnut species, with a range that extends across much of the US Northeast. The fruit is a lemon-shaped edible nut approximately two inches in diameter with sharp ridges on the shell inside the husk. Before and during early European settlement, butternut tree nuts were widely recognized as a valuable source of high-quality edible oil. Butternut trees have been slowly disappearing from our landscape due to Butternut Canker Disease (BCD), a fungal pathogen identified in 1967. BCD is fatal for the vast majority of butternut trees. The ability of North American butternut (Juglans cinerea) to hybridize easily with Japanese walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) both compounds and complicates the issue. Japanese walnut is resistant to BCD, making butternut-Japanese walnut hybrids more likely to both persist and reproduce. Also, it is difficult to visually determine the degree to which a butternut tree has hybridized; at this time, genetic testing is required. In this way, the presence of Japanese walnut both supports North American butternut, by providing BCD resistance through hybridization, while at the same time threatening North American butternut with genetic swamping.
From the perspective that conserving as much native butternut germplasm as possible is a realistic and appropriate goal, the most valuable butternut seed would be seed known to carry BCD resistance combined with a mostly pure (vs. hybridized) butternut genome. Butternut hybrids tend to produce more abundantly than pure butternut, it is less than clear that this would be a premium seed for agricultural purposes. Assuming that BCD could be proven manageable, and also assuming that an agriculturalist would support planting seedlings, not clones, higher-yield hybrids might be preferred by agriculturalists over a lower-yielding tree with a higher percentage of pure butternut genome. Using BCD-resistant hybrid butternut seedlings as rootstock for grafted butternut from trees with known genetics also seems like a relatively untested opportunity as most grafted butternuts utilize black walnut rootstock. We now know that butternut oil is rich in antioxidants, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and, unusually, plant-based omega-3s. Butternuts are unquestionably capable of producing a premium edible oil. The US Northeast, far from self-sufficient in edible oil production, requires regionally adapted, economically practical oil crops. Additional research needs to be done to understand whether butternut, either minimally or mostly hybridized, could help fill this gap. The sooner steps are taken to support this species at risk, the greater the chances of success. Several states and Canada have listed butternut as an endangered or threatened species, generally due to the population-level disease treat from Butternut Canker Disease (BCD). Neither Canada nor any US state appear to have named Japanese walnut as an invasive species. Undiscovered BCD-resistant butternut hybrids undoubtedly exist on the landscape and may be more common than generally appreciated. These trees are likely to be farm or yard trees and so using farmer engagement to locate them should be an effective approach. Temporarily designating Japanese walnut as an invasive species in the heart of butternut's native range in order to slow the rate of landscape-level genetic erosion could be a way to buy additional time to develop a more durable solution.