Chestnuts
![](https://silt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/silt-iowa-landowner-guide-to-sustainable-food-crop-chestnuts.jpg)
Iowa-grown Chinese Chestnuts are more flavorful than California-grown Japanese-Europeans hybrids. While most third generation Americans only know chestnuts from a holiday song, recent immigrants from Europe and Asia have known and loved chestnuts all their lives. There is a strong demand for chestnuts in Iowa among these immigrants and their children. Like most Iowa nuts, they don’t rely on fresh sales to local markets, but if sold more broadly, they will have to compete with national and global markets. They are an excellent overstory to a diverse permaculture-style orchard or silvopasture system that could support animals, fruits and nuts. Chestnuts can also be processed as a gluten-free flour.
Initial Costs
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Considerations:
- Chestnut weevil
- Gall wasp
- Deer protection while young
- Mowing
Cream of the Crop Resources:
![](https://silt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/silt-infographic-tree-brown.png)