Agricultural researchers in the USA have made a significant breakthrough in battling the eastern filbert blight which threatens to cripple hazelnut orchards.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/18/171420517/growing-resistance-oregon-hazelnuts-battle-blight
One intrepid researcher has risked life & limb to collect blight resistant seeds.
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/11/712409240/one-mans-quest-to-change-americas-presence-in-the-global-hazelnut-industry
Several decades into the battle, researchers seem to be winning, but one plant pathologist warns that the hazelnut isn't out of the woods yet.
" Right now, we’re in a really great place, but we can’t rest on our laurels”
https://www.oregonbusiness.com/article/farms-forests/item/18702-nuts-to-the-blight