NEWBERG, Oregon. Standing in the middle of a hazelnut orchard, Larry George, CEO of George Packing Company, has no doubts: Oregon is headed for another record crop this year. Quality, he says, has been “incredible” over the past two years thanks to favorable weather during harvest. On top of that, the industry has already invested in new cleaning and drying capacity to maintain that standard if the weather cooperates again. The challenge is no longer production, George says: “the main thing now is what we do with the market.”
That market is still reeling from what happened last year. A severe freeze in Turkey led to a catastrophic crop, which prompted Turkish traders and speculators to drive prices up quickly, something that, according to George, did significant and likely permanent damage to global hazelnut consumption. The consequences have stuck: despite the poor harvest, Turkey reportedly still has about a third of last year’s production unsold and sitting in storage. Italy, historically the second-largest producer, also had a poor season.
This year the picture shifts again, and sharply. George estimates that Turkey will go from about 450,000 metric tons in-shell to between 700,000 and 800,000, and Italy from 55,000–60,000 tons to between 120,000 and 150,000. As for Chile, where he says more and more growers have turned to hazelnuts, he is blunt: “you’re going to see record crop after record crop coming out of Chile.” Oregon, meanwhile, enters this season with a practically empty supply chain and last year’s sales already wrapped up. It’s a comfortable position, but it faces a world market that is far better supplied than it was last year.
That is why, George says, the strategy can’t be to compete on volume directly with Turkey and Italy in the European market. George Packing, Northwest Hazelnut, and Hazelnut Growers of Oregon are betting on product development: new value-added lines, developed with research teams under non-disclosure agreements, that will be rolled out over the course of the year using Oregon hazelnuts. The particular focus is on opening markets in North America rather than fighting it out in the commodity market.
Reporting based on interviews with Larry George, George Packing Co., published by Pacific Nut Producer Magazine (September 24, 2026).
