John W. Hershey

John Walter Hershey (February 5, 1898 – September 7, 1967) was a fruit and nut orchardist of Pennsylvania, United States. He worked for the U.S. government during the Dust Bowl, teaching farmers how to grow perennial food crops in order to diversity their incomes and their farm ecosystem. Many of the trees he grafted onto rootstock and planted in the vicinity of his Downington, Pennsylvania plant nursery remain standing and continue to produce fruit and nuts.

Biography Hershey was born in Paradise, Pennsylvania, in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. He was a distant cousin of Milton Hershey of chocolate bar fame. He grew up on a farm and obtained a high school education. He also edited a periodical called The Nut Grower's Guide. He also advocated for planting food sources for wildlife, suggesting that farmers start "food plants on their rough knolls, slopes, ditches and edges of woodland. Of the berries and fruits, the best are the chokecherries, red and black haws, crabapples, wild plum, cherry, pears, persimmons, honey locust, and many others." He reported high profits from the planting of walnuts and black walnuts, and recommended grafting English and Persian walnuts to American black walnut rootstock.

Hershey worked as an agroforestry project manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The Tennessee River watershed is home to a diverse array of hardwood trees, including several kinds of oaks, tulip poplar, swamp cypress, tupelo gums, and prior to the blight, the American chestnut, many of which were or are commercially significant species.

His residence was at Corner Ketch near Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

Hershey died in Downington at age 69 in 1967. He was posthumously described as "the only honest grafter of Chester County."

Personal life Hershey was a member of the Society of Friends Uwchlan Monthly Meeting.