Truffle exporter aims high
Canterbury will be home to the first large-scale producer of truffles south of the equator with 37,500 trees expected to produce double the current yield of the entire southern hemisphere.
In a secret four-year operation, the NZ Truffle Company has set up nurseries and greenhouses at a small farm near Rangiora run by the company’s two shareholders, Catherine and Matthew Dwan, before planting a 75-hectare truffle plantation near Darfield.
The entire crop, worth between $2500 and $3000 per kilogram, will be exported to lucrative Asian and European luxury food markets.
In a statement, the company said financial returns per kilogram were expected to be between seven and 86 times that of any other New Zealand crop.
The company will take advantage of the untapped market, enabling it to service the northern hemisphere during the southern hemisphere season as global demand and diminishing international yields continue to strengthen the market.
The completed plantation will will be home to 30,000 hazel and oak trees and 7500 pine trees that will produce Pe´rigord black, burgundy and bianchetto white truffles.
The board of directors features some heavy business hitters, including Whittaker’s chocolate chief executive James Ardern, Sir Henry van der Heyden and Michael Ambrose.
Known as ``plant-based caviar’’, the three species of truffle will allow the company to diversify customer appeal and allow for a longer season and an earlier entry into market.
The truffles will also be organic and have halal accreditation.
The company is now undertaking its first capital raise of $26 million from long-term wholesale investors, which will be used to fund the acquisition of land, infrastructure development and pre-production operating costs. Production is expected to begin in 2026, with the plantation reaching full maturity in 2036.
Considered a boutique producer of high-quality truffles, New Zealand has over 300 truffie`res ranging in size from a few trees to thousands.
Canterbury has long had a reputation for producing highquality truffles that are moist and strong in aroma and flavour due to the climate and soil structures.