Britain sniffs its chance to become world’s truffle capital
Faster-growing GM strains and climate change may shift production from Med to the UK within 30 years
BRITAIN will become the truffle capital of the world within 30 years, scientists have predicted, as they work to develop a new genetically enhanced variety, which grows twice as fast.
A shift in climate means truffle farmers in the Mediterranean are facing exceptionally dry weather, creating a shortage of the fungus.
Mediterranean black truffles are mostly found in northern Spain, southern France and northern Italy where they thrive in warm, dry conditions.
But a warmer UK and pioneering genetic technology, which can dramatically speed up their production, means rare black truffles are starting to be grown in Britain, which produces around one ton of truffles a year, compared with France’s 50-80 tons.
Climate modelling by Dr Paul Thomas, an expert in the cultivation of truffles at Stirling University, found that the mild Mediterranean weather which has made them a staple of French cuisine will be replaced by harsh droughts that will wreck production over the next 30 to 40 years.
Shrinking exports from the Mediterranean have led to truffle prices in Britain doubling to £900 a kilo.
“That drying is a long-term trend in Europe so the future looks pretty good for British truffles,” said Dr Thomas, who called for an increase in production if farmers in the UK are to capitalise on climate change. “We need to be planning now if we are going to shift truffle producing regions [north]. In all the climate models, it looks pretty bleak for a lot of areas of Europe.”
The industry is projected to be worth £4.5billion in the next 10 to 20 years.
Dr Thomas has been working with farmers to develop production in the UK, not only of native species but also highly-prized French varieties such as Perigord, described by Jean Anthelme Brillat-savarin, the doyen of gourmands, as “the diamonds of the kitchen”.
This month, Matt Sims, a landowner in Monmouthshire, Wales, claimed success in growing Britain’s first crop of Perigord black truffles in his 11-acre plantation.
In light of climate trends, Dr Thomas said the UK was poised to be “pivotal in the global truffle industry” but it would require a big commitment by government, industry and their agencies.
He added: “We have the space to do it and we plant a lot of trees already [which could be treated with the fungus]. A hundred years ago, there was a knowledge and awareness of truffles. We had full-time truffle hunters. Mrs Beaton wrote about them in her cookbooks.
“That awareness and knowledge died out. We don’t have it in our psyche as a national product. We need to change that and get support from the Forestry Commission and higher up to scale it up. Given that we did it all 100 years ago, it is like bringing back a native crop.”
Mr Thomas is also developing lab techniques which are doubling the growth speed of commercially grown crops. It involves epigenetics, where the plant’s genes are switched on and off, to speed up truffle growth for harvest in three years’ time instead of a typical growth time of six years.
Seeds are inoculated with truffle fungus, grown in greenhouses, and then planted at sites around the UK. The latest – hazel whips with their roots enveloped in fungus – were planted in Bute off the west of Scotland last year.
‘A hundred years ago we had knowledge and an awareness of truffles in Britain. But that has died out’