Growing the white truffle Tuber magnatum. Micofora will market infected trees from this 2024.

Tuber magnatum Picco is the most expensive of the truffles and lots of research has been carried out in an attempt to understand its ecology and biology. There is a lot of information on its life cycle that remain unclear and that made its cultivation extremely difficult and only recently have we had the scientific proofs that it could be possible.

 T. magnatum is considered the best truffle because of its intense aroma and unique flavour. As a consequence, Italian retail prices for T. magnatum are higher than for any other truffle and make it one of the world’s most expensive foods, with prices ranging from 1000 to 6000 EUR kg and a business of about 0.9 billion EUR year.

Tuber magnatum is a “white truffle” and like others as Tuber borchii, Tuber dryophilum and Tuber puberulum it is characterized by smooth, pale-colored ascomata. The gleba contains, fine, clear veins, which are light-hazel-colored at maturity. In the case of T. magnatum, one to three (rarely four) spores are enclosed in each ascus.

T. magnatum cultivation has received a new approach. With the development of specific primers, its mycorrhizas and mycelium can now be unequivocally identified.

In 2019 and 2020 it was proven in France that it was possible to cultivate T. magnatum just like other species of truffles, and moreover, outside its natural growing area, and only 4 & 5 years after planting, similar to T. melanosporum and T. aestivum orchards, but a single plantation of 50 oaks fruited in just 5 trees. Although this is quite exciting, field studies are still necessary to optimize T. magnatum cultivation practices.

PCR tests confirmed the fungus’s mycelia were present in soil samples taken from near the trees at four of the french locations. The first three truffles, found in Nouvelle Aquitaine, were discovered four-and-a-half years after the inoculated trees had been planted. Further PCR tests confirmed they were T. magnatum. The 26 truffles found in 2021 were unearthed beneath 11 different trees, with 5 under one of them. The largest weighed 150g.

Due to the increased demand in this kind of trees and after several years of research Micofora has decided to produce trees mycorrhized with Tuber magnatum for the European market.

It is important to point that although we can provide magnatum certified truffle trees, DNA tested, we are at the beginning of understanding its culture. There are still plenty of gaps of information about its life cycle and if any trying to grow any truffle specie is a risk venture, growing magnatum will be even more.

In the following lines we´ll try to explain why last decades trials failed and what we know about its ecology and how to translate it into farming.

Why so many trials and orchards failed in the past?

First the mycorrhiza description was initially wrong, that lead to have been marketed trees infected with other lower quality truffles, like borchii or oligospermum, that were used as well as inoculum due to confusion. It was not until year 2000 that the DNA techniques could be used to solve that.

In Italy hundreds of thousands of trees were sold, and just about 10 orchards produced magnatum between 15-20 years later. These plantations were in natural producing areas of the white truffle, so they could came naturally infected after those years. Some first produced borchii, considered a first stage fungi, better associated to young trees, before moving to fruit magnatum in the same orchard.

One funny thing about this truffle, is that produces a few mycorrhizae in the field and tree production in nursery is difficult. Often, mycelia or mycorhizae could not be detected even in highly productive sites, while they were simultaneously detected in unproductive areas. Apparently, mycelia or mycorhizae presence is no clear sign of site productivity.

Where it fruits naturally?

T. magnatum can be harvested from mid September until the end of December. It has long been considered an almost exclusive Italian truffle restricted to the north and center of the country with smaller patches in Istria, Croatia, Hungary, south eastern France and the Ticino Canton of Switzerland. However, recent studies have also found it in the Geneva Canton of Switzerland, several Balkan regions, Sicily and Greece. These last two areas, in the 40º north latitude are quite interesting in order to try to attempt to grow them in central regions of Spain or other countries with a mediterranean climate.

Soil

Tuber magnatum grows in well-drained and well-structured marls, without gravels, but seems better adapted than the other truffles to clay soils. The most suitable soil composition is more or less equal proportions of sand and clay. The optimal pH varies from neutral to moderately alkaline, high carbonate and characterized by a high degree of base saturation and sufficient water throughout the year.

It is also associated with stagnant surface water, very soft soils and more than 15% of the soil volume occupied by interconnected macropores. Ideal places are the banks of rivers or other waterways. Other areas include forest margins and where the soil is disturbed or under isolated trees. The constant presence of water is obligatory and encourages dense canopy cover.

On the other hand, mind that when growing any truffle specie, using tractors and heavy machinery may increase soil compaction, so we better find loam soils with low clay contents.

Host trees

T. magnatum is primarily associated with Alnus cordata (alder), Corylus avellana (hazelnut), Ostrya carpinifolia, Populus alba (white poplar), P. tremula (European trembling aspen), P. nigra (Lombardy poplar), Quercus cerris (Turkish oak), Q. ilex (holm oak), Q. pubescens (downy oak), Q. robur (English or common oak), Salix alba (white willow), S. caprea (pussy willow), Tilia cordata (small-leaved lime), T. platyphyllos (large-leaved lime) and Fagus sylvatica.

Quercus pubescens will be the main host tree produced in the micofora nursery located in Barcelona (Spain).

Ecology and Climate

Tuber magnatum grows naturally in climate ranging from subcontinental to Mediterranean, where the average annual rainfall is usually high (from 600 to 800 mm, even up to 1200 mm). With no dry period in summer or at least ecology should keep moisture during summer. In all plantations we strongly recommend to add irrigation to compensate the lack of summer rain. 

The newest results obtained in 2014 in different habitats in Italy revealed that in early spring, the mean quantity of mycelium tends to increase and redistributes within the fruiting patches, while in autumn it concentrates only in the close vicinity of the ascocarps. This mycelium, measured with quantitative PCR shows more mycelium concentration associated to high water content (BTW, quite a similar behaviour to melanosporum).

This truffle enjoys bottoms of valleys or slopes with gentle slopes. The altitude is quite variable depending on latitudes, as it happen with melanosporum: at higher latitudes if may fruit at sea level but in southern areas like Greece or Italy up to 800 meters. It prefers dense vegetation and close canopies (shade), so keeping constant soil humidity in all seasons.

In one of the most southern natural producing areas, 3h drive south of Napoli, truffieres are north facing associated with a fine loamy-sandy soil bearing high carbonate content over a conglomerate bead-rock substrate. Producing truffle sites are mostly located on northern faced lands and at different altitudes (from 350 to 750 m). This is the same that happens in Spain for wild melanosporum, looking for sunlight and south facing slopes in the north of the country, but shady spots and north facing in the most southern latitudes.

Can we grow T. magnatum in Spain or other areas in the Mediterranean?

Again, trying to grow this truffle is a high risky venture. That said, we share the same soils and climates of the areas where this truffle fruits naturally in the south of Italy or central Greece. With both radiation of 7,8kWh in midsummer and the average temperatures in the hottest month is 23ºC and the average in the coldest month between 2ºC-6ºC as seen in the figures below, adding Teruel as a main truffle region in Spain to be able to compare with:

Some references:

Fungal findings excite truffle researchers and gastronomes.2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02118-8

The Mysteries of the White Truffle: Its Biology, Ecology and Cultivation.2022. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8392/2/4/135

A realized Tuber magnatum niche in the upper Sinni area (south Italy).2013. https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=33617

NATGA Annual Congress 2023 in California

I´ve been invited as a keynote speaker at the next NATGA congress in Paso Robles, CA, to be done next October 8th-10th. The organization has created a great event, mix of technical features with field visits and tastings, even allowing stands related to the truffle industry and suppliers…maybe a new “truffle festival” is born in CA? 😉

See more information here: https://trufflegrowers.com/event/fall-2023-truffle-congress-paso-robles-ca/

Come and join us! I´m looking forward to meet growers and friends there in 30 days from today!

Cheers,

Marcos Morcillo

New paper about black truffle & chestnuts and what is the role of Calcium in truffle ecology

A new paper was published early this year: Tuber melanosporum drives the symbiosis with Castanea sativa seedlings under greenhouse conditions and high calcium levels

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13199-023-00896-x

Because chestnuts normally grow on acid soils, in this research they focused on the effects of Ca++ and carbonate in truffle growth. Therefore, it is well explained the calcium paradox, where the truffle mycelium, with its “rock eating capacity” helps to solubilise the Ca++ and active carbonate (<50 microns), pumps Ca++ ion to the tree, while at the same time increases soil pH and creates some nutrient deficiencies, that stress tree. To compensate that, trees create more fine roots, that can be colonised by the same truffle, exploring more soil to feed the tree, in a feedback model.

This may explain why active carbonate is reduced in productive truffieres if compared to when we initially planted the trees and that it can be a good “solution” to keep adding calcium carbonate to the brûles to help that positive feedback for the truffle. It is like giving to the truffle mycelium  “ammunition” to play this game.

We always saw like when we add diluted hydrochloric acid in active truffieres, the effervescent reaction is lower plus delayed in time if you compare to a non active brûle where effervescence is high and immediate.

Same with rocks on surface on any brûle, that probably is this “rock eating” capacity of the truffle mycelium that makes rocks to shine like eggs in a pretty active brûle and become grey when truffiere dies…

Congrats to Amaya Alvarez‑Lafuente and other authors for the work.

Our team will be as well this September sampling more truffieres in acidic soils and natural chestnut truffieres in Catalonia to get more data about this Ca++ model, following the studies started almost 10 years ago:

Truffles, chestnuts and acid soils

all the best,

Marcos Morcillo

How 2021/22 black truffle season has been in Spain?

In the figure above you can see the wholesale prices for Tuber melanosporum in the Teruel market, that was around 300€/kg, a little bit better than the 200€/kg paid last year due to the Covid lockdown and lack of demand.

The prices given are only indicative. Normally the prices correspond to truffles of more than 20g in weight and without physical defects, with a degree of maturation according to the time of the season. There are always batches of truffles that will sell above and below those prices depending on their quality.

It has been the best season for the last 5-10 years in Spain! some data suggest around 100Tonnes but after chatting with some large traders, the whole harvest could have been between 130-150 Tonnes.

Several new areas have just boosted, with lots of new young plantations with irrigation started to fruit.

Fruit bodies did not mature until January. Maybe lack of cold? because it was not a lack of water. Luckily for some traders the market prioritizes shape and weights over aroma, for instance, first class between 20-40g, instead of receiving orders like 5kg of maximum aroma, but maybe this will change in the coming future.

In general, over 40% of the truffle has been able to be sold in fresh. It was hard to get good quality though, mainly because of the Leiodes beetle, that was a huge problem this season.  Truffle traders complain that after buying 3 tonnes in a single week, they could barely provide truffle to restaurants, just being able to sell in fresh 20-30% of the truffles some of the weeks.

We did not had this season any large snow storms not Filomena cold temperatures like last year that froze huge amounts of truffles so quality was highly reduced.

In Spain, we just had a huge heat wave in mid June 2022 that should have affected the coming season, specially orchards with no irrigation and wild truffle. Mind wild truffle is still around 10% of the harvest in some areas, for instance in Catalonia, that we produced just 3 tonnes last season at the farms.

The news we are receiving from Australia, New Zealand and Chile looks promising, most say the best season ever in production.

All the best from Barcelona!

Marcos Morcillo

Truffle Farming in Aragon and Teruel (Spain)

Diario de Teruel has just published this interesting figure about truffle farming in Aragon area in central Spain, the epicenter of truffle growing in Spain and where probably comes from around 70% of the world black truffle!

Teruel has the 78,2% of the hectares already in production in Aragón and 67% from the total planted in the whole region. 

5.500 hectares are in production in Teruel, and 844 hectares with irrigation systems. The effort to get water and invest in irrigation has busted production in the area with regular yields year to year.

The Teruel growers Association is promoting the Protected Geographical Identification for the Teruel Black Truffle to add value to the product harvested in that region.

Cheers,

Marcos S. Morcillo

Market prices for black truffle in Spain & France for season 2020/21

the black truffle season in Spain begins in mid-November and lasts until mid-March. It has been very good in terms of productions, similar to the previous year in many areas and maybe 20% lower in other regions. The problem, as we all expected after seeing the truffle market in the southern hemisphere a few months earlier, has been the prices, because the restaurants and hotels have been half closed.

In addition, the year 2020 affected the storm Gloria, which left 200mm of water at once, leaving the soil of many plantations excessively compact and due to the Covid confinement, many truffle growers could not work/till their farms properly, which has resulted, in several cases, in truffles smaller than expected. And at the beginning of 2021 a new storm arrived, the Filomena with snows and frosts down to -28ºC in central Spain and Teruel, where we have most of the plantations, which made serios damage to the crop. Not only did it freeze many truffles on surface, but thousands of holm oaks have died or have sprung up very weakly this spring.

prices in Spain at wholesale (dirty fruit bodies, not graded so all qualities mixed) for black truffle started at just 100€/kg and end the last week at 480€/kg.

In the next figure you can see prices for the french markets. Note some of them is the retail price instead of whole sale:

https://rnm.franceagrimer.fr/prix?TRUFFE&12MOIS

Good luck to all truffle growers from down under in this just started season! 💪🏽

all the best,

Marcos S. Morcillo

new paper about glyphosate effects on black truffle

A new paper has been published about the effects of glyphosate in truffle plantations:

Glyphosate treatments for weed control affect early stages of root colonization by Tuber melanosporum but not secondary colonization. Mycorrhiza (2020) 30:725–733 Vol.:(0112 33456789)

We already wrote about it some time ago in this post:

How to reduce glyphosate for weed control on truffle farming?

It is a topic to be discussed as lots of growers use it, in Spain, Basta or Finale is not available since a couple of years ago, and even in the following paper authors did not find that the use of Roundup affects the level of mycorrhization nor the concentration of truffle mycelium in soil analyzed with Real Time PCR, they conclude we can maybe use it the first 3-4 years in a plantation, but we think that truffle fruit bodies may accumulate glyphosate or its metabolites, once we enter into fruiting stage we should avoid Roundup in our truffieres.

Nowadays several growers have started to be certified organic and probably this is the path to follow.

The authors did not observe any detrimental effect on the mycorrhizal status or the density of extraradical mycelium when three applications within a growing season were applied.

Similarly, Olivera et al. (2011) did not find any negative effect of glyphosate on T. melanosporum ectomycorrhizae after 4 years with one annual application. Together, all these results indicate that an occasional or moderate use of glyphosate in young truffle orchards does not impair the proliferation of T. melanosporum mycorrhizae and extraradical mycelium. 

This study shows that the sporadic or moderate use of glyphosate is not detrimental to the secondary infection by T. melanosporum in mycorrhizal seedlings with adequate mycorrhization levels. This is probably because in young orchards, secondary infection from the already existing mycorrhizae and their associated mycelium is likely the prevailing inoculum source for the spread of the fungus through the roots grown in the field.

But what about sexual reproduction and the new “male partner” that should come from new spores?

The authors suggest a detrimental effect of glyphosate on the infectivity of T. melanosporum spore inoculum. 

The tested glyphosate application rates hindered the potential of T. melanosporum spore inoculum for infecting Quercus ilex root tips, whereas the formation of root tips was not negatively affected. This reduction in the spore inoculum effectiveness suggests that glyphosate (and/or its metabolites) has the potential to jeopardise the role of the soil spore bank as inoculum source for the colonisation of new roots (primary infection).

In the study, glyphosate treatments did not show any detrimental effect on stem height, root collar diameter or abundance of fine roots. Seedling survival was not affected in the short term of the assay, and no apparent abnormalities in shoot morphology were observed.

Cheers,

Marcos S. Morcillo

Effect of “spanish wells” or “truffle nests” on black truffle fruitings

The other paper I wanted to talk is

Edaphic and temporal patterns of Tuber melanosporum fruit body traits and effect of localised peat-based amendment

In this study, authors aim to investigate T. melanosporum fruit bodies (FB) traits such as weight, maturity, shape and probability of Leiodes infestation comparing in different soil types and inside nests or spanish wells.

Truffle growers claim that nests increase truffle quality, although some growers warn on the issues related to the re-wetting problem of peat after drying, while others consider that truffle growing in nests present lower maturity (less melanised spores, lighter-coloured glebae) and ripeness (lower intensity of aroma). Other claim the truffle density is lower…

To see the magnitude of this study, during two seasons, 1865 T. melanosporum were harvested in 1212 digs, with nests accounting for 53% of the truffles harvested and 42% of the digs excavated.

The proportion of digs excavated in nests varied over the fruiting season, showing a positive trend from its beginning until early December, after which the relative abundance of digs in nests began to decline. Digs excavated in nests remained dominant from mid-November to mid-January, falling to their lowest values from mid-February, a period in which digs excavated in bulk soil became largely dominant.

Truffles harvested in nests were deeper than those harvested in the bulk soil. In 57% of digs excavated in bulk soil truffles were found at depths less than 10 cm, whereas in 67% of excavated nests were found at depths between 10 and 20 cm.

About 74% of the digs excavated presented only one truffle, with the remaining digs presenting from two to 17.

When there are more than one truffle in the dig, they are harvested in early season until early January.

Nests showed a positive effect in Soil 1, in which the number of truffles per dig almost doubled with respect to bulk soil; a positive effect in Soil 2 but only increasing the number of truffles by 30%; and no effect in Soil 3.

The shape index of truffles in single-fruitbody digs was higher in nests than in the bulk soil.

When they analyse truffle density, they saw that density of the truffles measured ranged between 0.8 and 1.9 g ml−1 with no differences were found between bulk soil and nests in any moment of the season.

The weight of truffles in the bulk soil in one of the seasons was influenced by soil properties, with more sandy soils tending to present higher weights.

Nests are a common practice in Spanish truffle orchards. The results demonstrate, for the first time, that nests effectively modify several agronomically important traits:

Fruit bodies grown in nests showed more spherical shapes and lower probability of infestation by Leiodes, thus resulting in improved truffle quality. Shape improvement could be easily explained by the lower and more uniform resistance to penetration of substrate. Lower levels of pest infestation could be related to the light, loose-structured substrate hindering the mobility of adults or impairing the bonding of eggs to soil aggregates. This result concurs with the incidental observation, during the field sampling, that in truffles growing partly in bulk soil and partly in a nest, Leiodes galleries were mostly located on the soil side.

The proportion of truffles infested by Leiodes was lower in nests than in bulk soil:

Nests clearly increased FB depth. This is very appreciated by Spanish growers, who feel that these FBs are less exposed to abiotic and biotic damages and are more unlikely to suffer from irregular or imperfect ripening.

Nests increased the number of FBs per dig in two of the soil blocks. the increased number of FBs in nests could be due to enhanced FB survival. Considering peat properties and environmental requirements for FB growth, high water availability and aeration in nests could be pivotal in this process.

The higher number of truffles per dig found in nests could also be related to enhanced fruiting initiation. Nest installation creates an abrupt discontinuity in the bulk soil/substrate interface.

Nests seem to particularly promote fruiting in early season. This could be due to the fungus finding conditions encouraging early fruiting initiation, early ripening or increasing the growth rate.

In conclusion, nests effectively increased truffle depth, improved shape and decreased Leiodes infestation, without decreasing maturity in single-fruit body digs.

I have to say that several growers complain about that the aroma of truffles found inside nests is not as good as in soil, probably new research that is currently being done will show that. Of course, adding the peat moss, we are changing the bacterial community that is one of the main producers of the truffle aroma volatile compounds…

Again, congrats to the research team for this work!

All the best.

Marcos Morcillo

Is there any relationship between fruiting depth, weight and maturity for black truffle?

The last months the CITA research center, in Spain, has published two great papers analyzing the truffle fruit bodies from two seasons in different soil types and for the first time inside spanish wells with peat moss.

This is the second paper just published

Lack of Linkages among Fruiting Depth, Weight, and Maturity in Irrigated Truffle Fungi Marks the Complexity of Relationships among Morphogenetic Stages

the authors wanted to check if in Fruit Body (FB) clusters, the weight of the largest FB would show a negative relationship with the weight of the remaining FBs, due to the local resource depletion or inhibition mechanisms hypothesized by other authors; and if the differences among soils and with substrate would affect relationships among FB development characters, since soil properties and spanish wells are able to influence these characters.

Results for the truffles that fruit alone are:

(i) fruiting depth did not show a significant relationship with any other character,

(ii) FB weight showed a strong negative relationship with the shape index (i.e., bigger FBs having more irregular, less rounded shapes), and 

(iii) the Harvest Date showed a strong positive relationship with spore maturity, that initially looks obvious. The Harvest Date showed a significant and negative relationship with FB weight in the substrate, and 2 kind of soils, that could be related to the loss of weight during winter. Note February is one of the driest months in Spain, and this is why several growers water during winter. 

As an example, in our own farm this winter we have already irrigated 6 times this harvest season since late November (9 times last year)

And the results for the truffles that fruit in clusters are:

i) fruiting depth did not show a significant relationship with any other character,

(ii) the weight of the largest FB in a cluster showed a strong positive relationship with the combined weight of all the other FBs in the cluster, and 

(iii) the Harvest Date did not show a significant relationship with the weight of the largest FB in the dig.

In the substrate of the spanish wells and one of the soils, the weight of the largest FB in the cluster showed a strong negative relationship with its shape index (again larger truffles get the worst shape) . In the substrate the Harvest Date showed a significant and negative relationship with the weight of the remaining FBs in the cluster, so again we have to mind that peat moss dries up more than surrounding soil, and as growers, we better measure with probes and water accordingly.

On the other hand, when we check these following figures, looks like there is a better weight in the largest truffle in the cluster at 10-20cm, that is where we normally want them to fruit when we create the spanish wells with substrate:

shape index is better in the top shallow truffles, guess that compaction is lower there:

Conclusions:

• The soil depth at which truffle FBs grew did not show any causal link with FB weight, shape, or spore maturity for any of the soil or dig typologies analyzed. This suggests that, under the experimental conditions, weight and maturity do not depend on FB location throughout the soil profile.

• In that experimental site the existing ranges in microclimatic variables did not trigger changes in weight or maturity throughout the soil profile for any soil typology.
• Bigger FBs showing more irregular, less rounded shapes.
• No causal link between FB maturity and weight was found.
• A positive relationship between the weight of the largest FB and the weight of the remaining FBs was clear among the FB clusters of all the analysed soils. The relationship between these development characters is very strong in the substrate, which is much looser than the bulk soil.

This was not expected. Authors had initially hypothesized that local resource depletion would trigger compensating mechanisms between FB survival and FB size in a dig, in consonance with the fact that, before summer, the density of T. melanosporum FBs (still immature) in the soil is much higher than the density of ripe FBs localized by dogs in the fruiting season.

Again, lots of interesting data. Congrats to the research team.

All the best!

Marcos morcillo

How truffle season 2020 has gone in the southern Hemisphere?

With a black truffle harvesting season that runs from mid-May to early September, and volumes increasing year after year, truffle growers in the southern hemisphere encountered a full-blown pandemic and completely closed borders, which of course nullified export possibilities. In July some restaurants in some countries reopened and demand recovered somewhat, both domestic and export. Even so, several truffle growers explain the nightmare of searching for new shipping channels, some through unusual hubs.
In this link you can see the potential maps for truffle cultivation in some of these countries.

TRUFFLE PRODUCTION & EXPORTS IN AUSTRALIA

Australia has 192 members in its growers association. Best guess for Australian total production of T. melanosporum is 12.0t  to 12.5t Clean, being similar to 2019.

Anecdotally rot levels were higher than the past 4 years, probably due to

·       Impact of severe drought followed by heavy rains across the truffle growing regions of eastern Australia

·       Longer rotation between hunts due to lack of access to markets – many producers not selling their crop

The Manjimup/Pemberton region in Western Australia again produced over 80-90% of Australia total production of T. melanosporum

Total sales of Fresh Truffle were down, unsold product being “dumped” or frozen, either to be re-used in the orchard or sold later. Actual frozen volumes are unknown and subject to speculation.

Domestic Fresh Truffle Sales: Difficult to ascertain with most of Australia’s F&B Industry on a stop-go-stop during the entirety of our fresh season. In past 2 years Domestic Sales of Fresh Truffle have been estimated about 1.2t – this year it is “guessed” at less than 500kg given Melbourne was “closed” for the majority of the season. Another contributing factor domestically was broken logistics with shipments across Australia taking up to 2 weeks rather than 48 hours in a usual year – that time delay does not work for sending fresh truffle.

Export Fresh Truffle Sales: Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicates Exports of Fresh Truffle from Australia were 6.9t – down 13% on the past 2 years. Again all the Covid-19 factors that resulted in broken logistics, higher freight costs, a F&B industry in turmoil, credit risk and consumer uncertainty in all contributed to lower fresh truffle exports from Australia

TRUFFLE GROWING IN NEW ZEALAND

Hard to get real data in this country as growers are still very silent. Probably they did not produced more than 500kg.

The former president say that “realistically, the current market for fresh truffle in NZ at the moment may be about 250 kg per season. We need to get an export market going”

The production is growing including a proportion of Bianchetto (perhaps 20%).

NZ was one of the countries that did better with Covid, so truffle season was still okay, as NZ came out of Lockdown in May, as the season commenced. So the whole season run on mostly Level 1 of 4. Sales were steady for the whole of the season.

TRUFFLE GROWING IN SOUTH AFRICA

In this country most plantations are still young, so the season 2020 was quite good for some growers, producing 50% more in yield than last year.  Growers were able to travel with special permits for harvesting to the farms that are within our own province. But courier services were unreliable during lockdown. 

Covid interrupted sales to restaurants as the government had to close all fine dining establishments therefore growers were unable to sell to chefs as before.  A whole new market of private sales opened up. More and more people learned to cook at home, seeking more interesting and luxurious ingredients. 

Some farmers actually left their truffles in the land hoping for a better season next year.

So generally truffle sales in South Africa was very good this season, but due to the Corona Virus pandemic and many borders being closed,  it is hard to establish a realistic result of quantities produced in South Africa. My guess after talking with several growers is around 200 kilos produced.

TRUFFLE FARMING IN CHILE

Chile has about 300 hectares of black truffle plantations. The 2020 season accounted for 1.35 tons of black truffle, 60% more than in 2019, which reached 800kg. Export complex at the beginning of the season due to Covid, but then improved especially at the end of it.

In addition, work is beginning with other varieties of truffles, such as Tuber borchii, of which approximately 18 ha have been established among the Metropolitan and Aysén regions, which are mostly in their second year of growth.

In the season that ended at the beginning of September, there was a significant increase in national consumption (gastronomic use), reaching approximately 25% of production (in 2019 domestic consumption was around just 10%) and 55% was intended for export. It is worth bearing in mind that the practice of reinoculating plantations with spores (spanish wells) also generates significant truffle consumption.
The effects of the CIVID pandemic were strongly felt in the difficulties of internal and external logistics and in the decrease in demand from foreign customers due to the closure of the HORECA channel (hotels and restaurants) in Europe, the United States and Asia. It should be taken into account that Brazil and Mexico are two of the main countries importing Chilean truffles, whose demand was zero. However, with the rebound in external demand beginning in mid-July and the significant increase in domestic consumption, the marketing of fresh truffles was able to recover from the pessimistic outlook.
More information on the website of the Chilean Truffle Growers Association.

TRUFFLE FARMING IN ARGENTINA

This year the season began with the restaurants and hotels closed and some small producers were not even able to reach their plantations for the hunting, until well into the season.

Despite the pandemic, interest in black truffles in Argentina is on the rise and many consumers, confined to their homes, decided to enjoy truffles. Which was a challenge for all producers, testing the logistics of each one, taking into account how sensitive the truffle is in its transport and also having increased the delivery points with a lower weight per order than last season, due to the lack of restaurants in operation and having more orders from consumers in their homes. The main Argentine producer so far (who has provided me with this information), Trufas del Nuevo Mundo, offered imaginative proposals like an online truffle hunt.

We estimate that the production in Argentina could have reached 250 kg, which allows it to reach an interesting volume to export.
Regarding the planted area in the country, it is estimated between 110 and 120 Ha. With a total of at least 15 truffle growers.
The largest amount of truffle is concentrated in the province of Buenos Aires, and it is currently the province with the largest amount of Kg produced. Some truffle plants also continue to develop in other provinces such as Neuquén, Rio Negro, Chubut, Córdoba and Tucumán.

All the best!

Marcos S. Morcillo