Kansas foragers cashing in with black walnut harvest

BURLINGAME (KSNT) – October is black walnut season in Kansas. While most crops are now harvested on an industrial scale, the black walnut tree grows wild and its crop is only harvested by hand.

Collecting wild black walnuts is a tradition in the Midwest that goes back generations. So do many of the trees. A healthy black walnut tree can produce for well over 50 years. David Bruton with the Kansas Forest Service said that longevity means many people end up inheriting their first black walnut tree when they move into a new home.

“I oftentimes get calls into the office this time of the year from people frustrated because their lawnmowers are hitting the nuts… and the nuts are flying out and breaking windows, those sorts of things.” Bruton said. “One of the things that I appreciate about this opportunity is to be able to utilize those nuts that are falling from the trees.”

Bruton said black walnut trees in cities are known for making a mess in yards and along residential streets. Nuts left lying on the ground can create tripping hazards. He said homeowners will put up with it for a few years but eventually get frustrated.

“If they don’t have a market for removing those nuts, then they consider sometimes cutting the tree down. And that’s not something that I, as a forester, really like to try to encourage and promote. I’d like to utilize those nuts so that they can enjoy those walnuts throughout the walnut tree’s life.”

That’s where David Prescott steps in. He operates a hulling station for Hammons Black Walnuts. It’s one of seven stations the company has across in Kansas. Operators like Prescott purchase millions of pounds of black walnuts each year for Hammons.

“It’s been a neat little niche market for me, and it’s spreading out to more and more people in the community and local communities,” Prescott said.

This is Prescott’s fourth year operating the station about three miles west of Burlingame in Osage County. Local foragers bring him black walnuts by the truckload. He feeds the nuts into a hulling machine, similar to a rotary combine, which removes the outer green layer. He then weighs the processed nuts and composts the hulls. Prescott said 100 pounds of processed nuts will get you $13.

“It doesn’t seem like much. And if you’re just bringing a couple of five gallon buckets, yeah, you’re not paying for fuel. But if you start continually bringing them in, it can add up quite, quite a bit,” Prescott said.

Just like with commercial agriculture, the quality of each year’s black walnut harvest can fluctuate. Prescott said during last year’s drought, he only took in 23,000 pounds of black walnuts. This year he expects to double that.

“I’m hoping for 50,000 this year, but I’m way ahead of schedule for my first six days of running. I’m already at over 10,000 pounds. I think by the time of the end October I will beat that,” Prescott said.

On its website, Hammons explains how black walnuts are a completely sustainable product. The company puts the entire nut to use. While not as valuable as the meat, the shell has many commercial uses, from abrasive cleaning to water filtration.

Prescott said that sustainability is part of what he enjoys about this work.

“I get to meet a lot of people from a lot of different areas that get into it. And it’s people that are doing it just to not waste something, Prescott said. “The walnut is a product that lays on the ground. Most of the time the only thing that wants it is a squirrel. But it’s something you pick up and turn it into a cash flow for you. It can either be a hobby or actually you’re going to do it to make some money.”

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