High Value Enterprises for Small Spaces:Accelerating Commercialization and Integration of Woody Florals and Hybrid Hazelnuts in Sustainable Systems

High Value Enterprises for Small Spaces:Accelerating Commercialization and Integration of Woody Florals and Hybrid Hazelnuts in Sustainable Systems

Summary

This ambitious, producer-driven and implemented project is strategically accelerating the short and long term development of profitable, sustainable, woody-based agricultural systems in the Midwest. It is integrating two woody crops into small-to- medium farm enterprises- woody florals and hybrid hazelnuts. It strategically targets key barriers that limit commercialization and builds on strong producer links to promote large-scale adoption. Producers “own” this project, ensuring that solutions are feasible, relevant, and permanently integrated into their enterprises, and encouraging rapid spread.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Objective #1
Increased woody floral visibility and demonstrated profitability through 12 new on-farm demonstration plantings in 4 states:

Accomplishments:
Currently we have 12 woody floral growers who have established commercial woody floral plantings under this project in 3 states: Nebraska, Iowa and North Dakota. Those participants are listed above. To date 2,311 plants have been distributed between these 12 growers. A grower steering committee, consisting of six of these participants has been established and meets quarterly to ensure that the project is grower/participant directed.

Objective #2
Develop a permanent network of 12 woody floral (WF) producer “agents” to promote specialty woody crops, and who are regarded as reliable local sources of information.

Accomplishments:
This project has 12 producer “agents”, all of the project participant / growers are listed above under the heading of Project Participants. Several of these agents have been involved in woody floral presentations and workshops as well as the formal development of Nebraska Woody Florals cooperative (NWF), which processes, markets and promotes growing of woody florals in the Midwest.

Objective #3
Significantly increase the number of woody floral growers as a result of project-supported direct landowner contacts and assistance by WF producer agents.

Accomplishments:
We have had limited success recruiting new growers through the planned grower-to-landowner contact approach. Several factors have contributed to this:
1) some of the growers know relatively few of their neighbors thus making recruiting difficult, or
2) those that have the means to grow or incorporate woody florals in their farming operations or acreages are not as interested as anticipated when the project was first proposed.

A new strategy was developed by the steering committee, in collaboration with NWF that used a more traditional approach, such as seasonal field days and workshops as a means to promote woody floral production.

Objective #4
Conduct joint processing, marketing and market/product development via an existing specialty woody crop cooperative leading to greater farm profitability, greater market options for producers, and stronger producer-consumer links.

Accomplishments:
Six of the SARE producer did harvest their woody floral plants and marketed them through NWF this past year. Over half of the participants joined the NWF cooperative or intend to join, indicating their long-term commitment to woody floral production, and the sustainable long – term impacts of this project. The cooperative, with 43 members, currently sells to wholesale florists located in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and South Dakota.

Objective #5
Enhance producer access (24/7) to woody floral information, hybrid hazelnut production, processing, marketing, price and financial return information via an improved web-based market information system.

Accomplishments:
Currently the Nebraska Forest Service has an entire web page/Market Information System devoted to woody florals, one of the few such web pages. This web site outlines woody florals with interesting color, shapes, buds, fruit, flowers and other marketable characteristics. The URL for this web site is www.nfs.unl.edu/documents/SpecialtyForest/growersguideweb2007. This site includes photos of woody floral plants, plant descriptions, growth requirements, propagation methods, harvest information, production information, labor requirements, establishment costs, fresh market information and potential problems. This site also gives those interested in woody florals contact information on the NWF (Nebraska Woody Florals) cooperative. Updates were implemented in 2007 with new updates and links added once a year or every other year depending on new information.

Objective #6
Increased farm profitability by using superior cultivars of both WFs and hazelnuts, and through more efficient processing procedures and equipment.

Accomplishments:
Using project funds, project participants have planted a wide array of plants that are proven performers in our climate as well as many species that are “new” to the area. The following is a list of plants that have been purchased for field trials with SARE funds:

Flowering Almond, Bittersweet, ‘Black Knight’ Buddleia, Nanking Cherry, Coralberry, Snowberry Blood twig dogwood, Cardinal Dogwood, Red twig dogwood, Yellow twig dogwood, Black pussy willow, Pussy willow, Curly willow, ‘Scarlet Curls’ willow, StreamCo willow, Superba willow, Belgium Red willow, Hutchinsons Yellow willow, Select pussy willow, Black Maul willow, Vitelina willow, Chermesina willow, American willow, Yellow weeping willow, Giant pussy willow, Green Dicks willow, Flame willow, Fantail willow, Blue mist spirea, Candidissima Viburnum, Notcott Viburnum, Calvescens Viburnum, Nanny berry Viburnum, Wentworth Viburnum, Mariesii Viburnum, Winterhazel, Mt. Airy Fothergilla, Large Fothergilla, Arnold’s Witchhazel, Primavera Witchhazel, Pallida Witchhazel, Coral bark willow, Yellow flame willow, Yellow curly willow, Sweet birch, Winter Red Holly, Southern Gentleman Holly.

The project also purchased a complete drip irrigation system for each participant to ensure good plant survival and growth. A strapping machine was also purchased to reduce labor and speed the bundling and strapping of harvested woody florals. It has been of great help to growers interested in improved processing efficiencies. Assistance was given to NWF in setting up a freezer study as a possible way to extend the period that dormant stems are available.

Objective #7
Successful hazelnut tissue culture leading to the capacity to mass produce superior disease-resistant, hybrid hazelnut seedlings at a low cost

Accomplishments:
Working in conjunction with the National Arbor Day Foundation, an ambitious research project was started in the fall of 2002. The focus of this project was to screen a planting of 5,000 hazelnut plants for yield potential. Thanks in part to this SARE grant this project is still on-going. Ten potential new cultivars have been identified and yield data from the top 100 producing plants is still being collected each fall. We are currently working with Rutgers University to screen these plants for a devastating hazelnut disease called Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB) that would limit their commercialization. These top producers have also been tested for their oil content and oil physical and chemical characteristics in collaboration with scientists at the Biological Systems Engineering department at the University of Nebraska. Tissue culture of those plants that have been identified as top producers as well as those plants that have EFB (Eastern Filbert Blight) resistance is the next step.

As a direct result of the continued collaborative work on hybrid hazelnuts supported by this project, a consortium composed of the Nebraska Forest Service, Rutgers University, Oregon State University and the Arbor Day Foundation was formed to commercialize the hybrid hazelnut in the next ten years. The consortium recently submitted a $1,000,000 grant request to the USDA to support this effort; although the grant was not funded the request was rated very high by the selection committee and will be resubmitted in 2009. The project coordinator has been investigating various types of pecan nut processing equipment that may be applicable for processing hybrid hazelnuts. During the month of November the project coordinator visited two nut processing manufactures, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas to investigate the equipment that they manufacture. On that same trip a visit was paid to the Missouri department of Conservation to look at equipment that they utilize. The end result of this trip was that four pieces of pecan processing equipment have been identified that appear to have hazelnut cleaning abilities with several hazelnut samples run through each machine. Separate funding, in the amount of $30,000 has been requested from another source and if approved the processing equipment will be purchased.

Objective #8
Development of experience-based enterprise budgets for woody floral enterprises

Accomplishments:
This budget can be found within the text of the on-line growers guide found at the following URL
. www.nfs.unl.edu/documents/SpecialtyForest/growersguideweb2007

Objective #9
An expanded and strengthened specialty woody crop community of interest region-wide through the use of both “high touch” and “high tech” approaches

Accomplishments:
This combined high-touch and high-tech approach has been accomplished by providing each member with plant material and an irrigation system, and hands-on harvesting and processing workshops, combined with improving web-based information approach on the various cultivars and markets for woody floral production. We are also in contact through e-mail, meetings, workshops, and the steering committee.

Objective #10
Increased production and marketing knowledge of producers, agency personnel, florists, and teachers of vocational agriculture, floral design and natural resources in Native American Tribal Colleges through 8 targeted workshops, 5 field days, 3 publications, and quarterly e-newsletter.

Accomplishments:
To date 7 workshops have been conducted. During November 2005, 4 extension workshops were held on Woody Florals in Columbus, Lincoln, Fremont and Omaha Nebraska. In September of 2006 a workshop was held on proper processing techniques of Woody Florals. Each of these workshops had between 15 – 20 attendees present. The Project Coordinator delivered plant material to Fort Berthold Community College (a tribal college) in New Town, North Dakota, and provided hands-on training to tribal college participants while there. NWF manned a booth and conducted floral design presentation with woody florals at the 2006 – 08 Wild Fruit & Nut jam event, hosted by the Nebraska Forest Service, with between 1400 & 2500 in attendance. Two field days were also conducted; the first in November of 2005 when a harvesting and processing workshop was held with 60 attendees, the second was conducted in April of 2006 when a planting workshop was held with 15- 20 in attendance. In July, 2007 a Woody floral summer field day was held with 35 in attendance.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

At this time impacts and contributions/outcomes are beginning to accumulate. This project began in November of 2005. The first year of activity consisted of establishing the 12 woody floral plots, thus allowing each of the participants to become familiar with growing woody florals. These plantings are becoming core production plantings, building the production base for plant multiplication & woody floral production well into the future. These working plantings also serve as widely distributed demonstration sites, which are now being used for producer training. Expanded collaboration with both the NWF and though the hazelnut commercialization consortium are opening up new opportunities for further development of the two commercial, but as yet, alternative corps. The development of a research & development consortium to commercialize the hybrid hazelnut (with the Nebraska Forest Service, National Arbor Day Foundation, Oregon State University and Rutgers University) is a direct outcome of this project. The anticipated benefit for producers in the North Central region is rural economic development as well as environmental conservation through the use of profitable permaculture systems based on woody florals and hazelnuts.

Collaborators: