B.C.'s loss is Ontario's gain

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Ontario hazelnut farmers are benefiting after a blight devastated the B.C. hazelnut industry, The Globe and Mail reports.

Hazelnut orchards in B.C.'s Fraser Valley have been ravaged by the eastern filbert blight, which The Tyee reports spread from similarly effected orchards in Oregon and Washington states. Combined with two years of poor harvests in Turkey, which produces more than two-thirds of the world's hazelnuts, this loss has the industry scrambling to find new suppliers.

Ontario is one location they have turned to. According to The Globe and Mail, Nutella-maker Ferrero SpA has made a deal with the Ontario Hazelnut Association (OHA) to help supply its Brantford, Ont., factory. OHA told The Globe and Mail that Ontario farmers will harvest more than 240 hectares this year, a significant increase over last year's 40 hectares. The newspaper reports that Ontario farmers, after years of dealing with the blight, were motivated to plant newer, blight-resistant hybrids. BF