What happens when a Wall Street equity analyst with a master's degree in natural resources turns his attention to chestnut farming? You get one of the most data-grounded, ecologically serious conversations we've had on Branching Out: Growing Together.
Brett Hundley of Agroforestry Partners spent 15 years covering packaged food and agribusiness before co-founding a fund that has now planted nearly 1,600 acres of chestnut trees in Kentucky. He's not a romantic about it — he ran the numbers, visited farms in Chile, and made a deliberate choice. In this episode, he shares exactly what he found, what surprised him, and what it means for growers at every scale.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why chestnuts rose to the top when Brett's team evaluated every major tree crop for the eastern U.S.
What a research trip to Chile's commercial chestnut industry revealed — and one observation that every American grower needs to hear
The real economics of chestnut farming: timeline, yield benchmarks, land value, and what patient capital actually looks like
How the U.S. compares to mature chestnut-producing countries — and why being early isn't a disadvantage
What Brett believes the domestic chestnut industry looks like in 30 years, and what role independent growers play in getting there
Visit unitedchestnuts.com for trees and resources from the Ebb Farm Lab and a community of growers ready to help. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Branching Out: Growing Together.
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