US hazelnut sector on track for second consecutive record crop

The United States' hazelnuts are showing no signs of slowing down, with Oregon growers poised to deliver a second consecutive record crop in 2026. New orchards are reaching peak production, while strong grower prices and rising international demand further boost the sector’s prospects.

According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) September 2026 Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook, preliminary estimates from the Hazelnut Marketing Board's Subjective Yield Survey project the Beaver State's 2026 crop at approximately 143,720 tons, in-shell. If realized, production would surpass the previous record set in 2025.

Photo by Engin Akyurt via Unsplash

Top producer Oregon's harvest began in September and will continue through October. USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will publish official utilized production figures in its Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2026 Summary in May 2027, the report notes.

A growing hazelnut production…

The back-to-back record crops come on the heels of Oregon’s orchard expansion. Between 2016 and 2018, growers planted an average of approximately 10,000 additional acres of hazelnuts annually, according to the USDA report.

Hazelnut trees typically require four to five years after planting to reach commercial bearing age. Yields then increase as orchards mature, with trees generally reaching full productive capacity at approximately 10 to 12 years.

As a result, orchards established during the 2016/18 planting expansion are now entering their peak production years, adding to Oregon's overall productive capacity. The expansion also reached another milestone last year.

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“Hazelnut-bearing acreage reached 92,000 acres in 2025, an increase of five percent year over year from the previous record of 88,000 acres in 2024," the report notes.

Yields followed the same direction, with Oregon producing 121,500 tons of in-shell hazelnuts. That represented a 26 percent increase over the previous record of 96,800 tons in 2024 and marked the first time US production exceeded 100,000 tons.

… and grower prices to match

Expanding acreage and production are not the only cause for celebration among US hazelnut growers. Higher volumes coincided with a sharp increase in grower prices in 2025.

The average price reached $2,800 per ton, a 67 percent increase from 2024 and the highest inflation-adjusted price since 2014, based on the USDA's analysis using the GDP implicit price deflator.

"An increase in grower prices pushed the value of production upward to $340.2 million in 2025, more than double year over year from $162.6 million in 2024," the assessment says of the uptick.

As for market fluctuations, tight global supplies contributed to the price increase, helping the US maintain its position as a net exporter of hazelnuts, a title held for more than two decades, beginning in the 2003/04 marketing year.

Photo by Engin Akyurt via Unsplash

"Freeze events in Türkiye, the world's largest hazelnut producer, resulted in widespread damage to the hazelnut crop in April 2025. This increased demand for US hazelnut exports and helped put upward pressure on grower prices," the report notes.

Exports reached a record 78.1 million pounds on a shelled basis in the 2025/26 marketing year, up 45 percent from the previous record of 54 million pounds in 2024/25.

"Export growth has been driven by shelled hazelnuts rather than in-shell hazelnuts, with shelled hazelnut export volume increasing from 7.8 million pounds in 2020/21 to 73.4 million pounds in 2025/26," the document states.

*Main image by Anastacia Prokopeva via Unsplash

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