Walnut Cultivation: Perspectives and Greek Reality

Greek reality

Over 500,000 walnut trees have been planted in Greece over the last five years. These include the tens of thousands imported from Turkey. By a rough estimate we are talking about 35,000 acres of new plantings. The overwhelming majority of them are the Chandler variety . It is well known how large  proportion of plants imported from Turkey are of dubious quality and certification.

Last year (2017) ,during harvesting period, complaints were heard by producers about the fidelity of the variety they bought with the one that appeared on the field. There were also complaints about “wild” plants that had been carved to resemble vaccinated. Another curious fact is the article on plant importers of the walnut vaccination method.

It is easily understood that despite the large volume of planting in recent years, production is not projected to increase proportionally.

Prospect of Cultivation

Production is expected to decline this year due to bad weather conditions during flowering. In many regions of Greece, fruit declines have had a direct impact on production volume. It is difficult to find statistics on domestic consumption of walnut, imports, new plantings and even annual production. What we know for sure is that many nuts are imported each year (in nuts or crumbs) and Greece’s needs are unlikely to be covered in the next few years by the plantings they have made.

But the prospect of growing walnuts should always concern us in relation to the global reality. If we limit ourselves to the local market we will have made a big mistake. Markets are open and importing products is very easy.

By exchanging some emails, dozens of containers of high quality walnut can be brought to the local market within a few days. The same mistakes as with other crops in the past should not be made.

Worldwide consumption of nuts is increasing significantly every year. New markets are being created with enormous interest. India is the latest example of a middle class of 300,000,000 people. It is important that producers who already produce, or those who plan to plant to organize their export activity plan. This will help them to be prepared for everything.