Black Walnut Crop Update: September 29th, 2021

Black Walnut Harvest begins FRIDAY, October 1!

Black Walnuts are beginning to fall all over the area, and this year they’re worth more than ever. To open the season, harvesters will be paid $20 per hundred pounds (after hulling)! This is a 25% increase from last year and the highest buying price in the 75 years that we’ve been in business. For locations east of the Mississippi River, the opening price is $18.00 per hundred pounds due to higher freight costs, but still 20% over last year.

Over 200 hulling station operators in 12 states are ready to receive nuts as thousands of folks will be out enjoying the fall weather, making memories, and picking up lots of cash. It’s literally money on the ground – worth more than ever before. 

Early projections of volume are positive too. This year’s crop of wild Black Walnuts looks to be good throughout the Midwest region where the trees grow naturally. We hope for an abundant harvest of at least 24 million pounds, and perhaps as many as 30 million pounds. This would be a welcomed blessing after the past three years with below-average crops.

Harvesters are encouraged to pick up Black Walnuts within the first few weeks of October when the nuts have recently fallen and their hulls are mostly green. Then bring the nuts to a hulling station within three days of harvesting. While buying will continue into mid-November, the price could change mid-season. So we encourage harvesters to get their nuts in quickly.

It’s Black Walnut Harvest time!