Missouri river hills would look beautiful lined with chestnut trees and
they’d turn a pretty profit.
“Missouri
has a lot of acres in the river hills, which are fertile, deep, well-drained
soils perfect for growing chestnuts,” said Michael Gold, professor of forestry
at the University of Missouri.
“If
you manage a 50-acre orchard you can produce 100,000 pounds of chestnuts,” Gold
said. “And even at the lower end of the wholesale prices for chestnuts, that’s
$200,000 (gross) for the family farm.”
Gold,
associate director of the MU Center for Agroforestry, says that since 1996 the
center has been building a body of research designed to increase chestnut
production in the state. Everything from the cost breakdown for establishing 50
trees on a single acre to a grower’s calendar, and even guides and brochures to
help producers market chestnuts.
The
MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ Horticulture and
Agroforestry Center (HARC), in New Franklin, Missouri, researches alternative
crops for family farms. Small to medium-size farms don’t have enough acres to
grow corn or soybeans competitively. Gold says you don’t need thousands of
acres to be a major chestnut producer.
“Fifty
acres of corn, you’re a garden. Fifty acres of chestnuts, you’re in big
business,” Gold said. “If you had a 50-acre orchard, by the time the trees are
12 years old you've got 100,000 pounds of chestnuts a year.”
There’s
a growing market eager to buy chestnuts as fast as they can be grown.
“There’s
not only demand, but those individuals who are serious about chestnut
production cannot keep up with the demand. Their crops are sold out as soon as
they’re harvested,” Gold said.
The
chestnut market goes beyond just raw nuts. Gold says there are many value-added
products that can be made from chestnuts.
For
example, chestnuts can be dried and ground into gluten-free flour. There’s a
brewery in St. Louis that produces chestnut-flavored beer. Gold says there are
chestnut liquors, sweetened puree, gluten-free pancake mixes and marron glace,
a candied chestnut popular in France and Italy.
Cooking
with chestnuts is gaining in popularity too. You can add roasted chestnuts to
pasta, vegetables and grain dishes, Gold said. They can be made into a puree
and spread on crepes and pancakes. Whole chestnuts can be used to thicken soups
and stews.
Today,
consumers are more interested in what they eat and where it comes from. “The
National Restaurant Association’s ‘What’s Hot in 2014’ has locally grown, gluten-free
cuisine and environmentally friendly foods in the top five trends,” Gold said.
“Missouri chestnuts meet all three.”
There’s
more to chestnuts than roasting over an open fire. Gold says chestnuts are
called the “un-nut” because they are very different from their tree-nut
cousins.
“They’re
99-percent fat-free, gluten-free, cholesterol-free and have as much vitamin C
as an equal weight of lemons,” he said.
Right
now it’s a seasonal nut, but the more people are exposed to chestnuts, the more
they will buy them, Gold said. In Europe, especially Italy, chestnuts are
celebrated in the fall just as Americans celebrate pumpkins. If chestnuts
become as popular here as they are in Europe, they will easily move from just a
holiday treat to standard fare.
For
that to happen, we need chestnut producers. The United States lost ground when
blight destroyed the American chestnut in the first half of the 20th century.
Today, the Chinese chestnut is becoming an increasingly important crop in
several states, including Michigan and California. But Missouri is perfectly
poised to become the top chestnut producer in the country, Gold said. All we
need are family farmers willing to plant the trees on their river hill acres.
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