Trying to Light A Fire Under Chestnut Revival
Agricultural researchers at the University of Missouri at Columbia's Center for Agroforestry are experimenting with more than 50 varieties of chestnuts. The goal: to bring back the American chestnut.</br></br>A century ago -- before an Asian blight devastated most of the country's millions of chestnut trees -- chestnuts were a staple of American diets, particularly for recent immigrants. The trees' rot- resistant timber was used to build barns and beams, its bark provided tannin for leather.</br></br>While the chestnut remains an oddity for most Americans, commercial production is increasing, and so is demand.</br></br>"The American Chestnut Foundation has worked very closely with the Agriculture Department to come up with a disease-resistant strain of the American chestnut," President Bush said when he planted a 16-foot chestnut tree on the White House grounds to mark the 133rd annual celebration of Arbor Day on April 29. "One day the American chestnut . . . will be coming back. And this is our little part to help it come back."</br></br>For now, domestic production is a fraction of the global market, said Michael Gold, associate director of the Missouri center. He estimates that U.S. chestnut growers produced 1.5 million pounds last year, compared with 200 million pounds worldwide.