Hazelnut occurs in the wild across the Eastern and Midwestern United States where it is found at forest edges and overtaking abandoned fields. The native hazelnut, Corylus americana, has a relativel small nut. The commerically grown European hazelnut, Corylus avellana, produces a respectable sized nut that supports a large international industry, but Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB), endemic to the Eastern United States, kills most varieties of European Hazelnut. Further, the orchard style adopted by the European hazelnut industry relies on tall tree-form self-shedding hazelnuts that fall on a weed free surface for collection. Maintenance of a weed free orchard in the Appalachain hills would quickly lead to devestating errosion, so the European model won't work here. Fortunately, breeding work has produced Corylus americana X Corylus avellana hybrids that produce reasonably sized nuts, are of intermediate stature, and are EFB resistant. This opens up the possibility for hedge-row cultivation and mechanical harvest of hybrid hazelnut using repurposed blueberry and olive harvesters. We are intersted in short stature hybrid hazelnuts for this reason.
