Chestnut industry expansion

Summary

Global awareness of the important health benefits from nuts in the human diet is driving an increased demand for nut and nut products. The Australian chestnuts industry is largely (~70%) located in north-eastern Victoria. There are also chestnut production areas in New South Wales (NSW), including Blue Mountains and Orange, South Australia (SA) around Adelaide Hills, Western Australia (WA) in the south-western region and Tasmania.

The production quantity is sufficient for local consumption, and only approximately 2% of the annual crop is exported to the Asian market. There is an opportunity to increase Australian chestnut production in response to a growing demand from the American, European and Asian markets. The 2015 of in shell chestnut production was approximately 1,200 tonnes. By 2025, this is expected to increase to 1,650 tonnes (ANIC, 2015).

This information package is supplementary to high-resolution maps available online. The information provided should be used as a guide to find potential regions for expansion. However, specific and comprehensive site analysis must precede the final decision regarding site suitability for any orchard establishment. A further use of this work would be to provide information on suitable regions for sentinel plantings to determine those most appropriate for expansion of the Australian chestnut industry.