NEWBERG, Oregon. The United States is heading for another record hazelnut crop, almost all of it from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and much of it from the Newberg area. According to the USDA’s September fruit and tree nuts outlook, which includes data from a Hazelnut Marketing Board survey, the crop is expected to reach nearly 144,000 tons in-shell. That is 18% above the previous record of 121,500 tons set in 2025, the first year U.S. production topped 100,000 tons.
The jump comes from a wave of plantings made a decade ago that is now reaching full production. Between 1980 and 2012, hazelnuts covered 20,000 to 29,000 acres in Oregon, but plantings surged to roughly 10,000 new acres a year from 2016 to 2018. Because orchards take four to five years to bear commercially and keep increasing yields until around 10 to 12 years of age, that acreage is only now reaching maturity. In 2025, acreage hit a record 92,000 acres and yields rose 20% to 1.32 tons per acre.
Since most Oregon hazelnuts are exported, more production also means more shipments. U.S. exports reached a record 78 million pounds of shelled hazelnuts in 2025-26, up 45% from the previous record of 54 million. Growth has been driven by shelled hazelnuts, whose exports reached 73.4 million pounds in 2025-26, compared with just 7.8 million in 2020-21.
The international context also played in Oregon’s favor. Frosts that damaged trees in Turkey, the world’s top producer, in 2025 boosted demand for U.S. hazelnuts and pushed prices higher. Grower prices reached US $ 2,800 per ton, up 67% from the year before and the highest since 2014 adjusted for inflation, lifting the value of production to US $ 340 million, more than double the 2024 crop.
Reported from Capital Press (October 7, 2026).
