Walnut yields uncertain following winter storms

Hammons Products Co. is preparing to once again buy black walnuts from people in southwest Missouri, beginning Oct. 1.

But company President Brian Hammons warns that the crop could be down from last year.

“A number in the Springfield area, up toward Stockton and Marshfield, have pretty good yields this year, but other areas in southern Missouri that last year produced heavily don’t seem to have as many,” Hammons said. “So the overall crop is less than it was, and maybe a little below average.”

The best word to describe the yield is “spotty.” Northern Missouri crops are low this year, while southern Missouri – the area Hammons expected to be hardest hit – seems to have weathered the freeze.

The telling sign, he added, will be the size and quality meats themselves, which the company won’t be able to determine until collection begins.

Hammons Products is paying $13 per 100 pounds of nuts after hulling this year, the same price it started the season at last year. That price, Hammons said, eventually fell last year as the crop came in stronger than average.

“There should be a lot of money laying on the ground,” he said.

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