Truffle producers expect a better harvest than last year thanks to recent rains

Eloi Tost/Tarragona - The Association of Truffle Producers of Catalonia (Protocat) is expecting a better harvest than last year thanks to the autumn rains. Although there is still no accurate estimate, the entity assumes that it will exceed three tons in 2023. Of the volume obtained, 80% will be dedicated to export to more than 50 countries, especially France, Italy and the United States. "Although we are the largest producers of black truffles in the State, we still lack a lot of internal consumption," the vice president of Protocat, Dídac Espasa, told ACN. According to him, the kilo is between 800 and 1,200 euros and it is at Christmas when demand increases the most and, consequently, the price.

The harvest began in mid-November and will last until mid-March. After three years marked by drought, the showers of recent months have helped the growth of the fungus. "Those who were able to water at the beginning of the season were able to save it well", remarks Espasa. In any case, the vice president assures that climate change is significantly affecting this mushroom. "In the past, the Mediterranean climate benefited the truffle, which appeared wild in France, Spain and Italy. This has changed and today without good management and without irrigation support it would be unfeasible to grow truffles", he assures.

The association brings together around 150 producers of a crop that, compared to other millenary crops such as oil or wine, "is still in its infancy". In fact, in Catalonia, work has been done on it for about 30 years. This means that different techniques are tried every year. Espasa points out that it is a "complicated" product since it is "the symbiosis between a fungus and a tree". "There are factors involved that still escape us. It is more than just a crop, it is magic", he says. This means that despite repeating the same procedures from one year to the next, the final result is different. Producers currently control with great precision and with the help of technological gadgets the humidity of the soil both in depth and on the surface, the amount of water that must be provided with irrigation or other parameters that must allow the truffle to develop satisfactorily.

Dogs

One of the issues that they have already resolved is the tree in which the fungus must develop. The holm oak, the oak and the chestnut are ideal species for the symbiosis to occur. It is also necessary for the soil to be calcareous and to be at a certain altitude. After six or seven years of planting the trees and taking care of the land, if all goes well, there are the first results. It is also a completely organic crop, since no treatments can be applied to the land because there would be a risk of killing the fungus, so "there is only water and sun".

But despite all these elements, the harvest would not be possible without the help of truffle dogs. "Without them we could not find truffles", acknowledges Espasa. The animals, trained to carry out the task, mark with precision the exact point where the truffle is buried. In addition, they smell those that are already ripe and ready to be collected. This means that in a season several of them appear around the same tree in different places. "Every week the dog tells you which one is ripe and which one is not", specifies the vice president.

A thousand hectares

The Department of Agriculture had registered 690 hectares of truffle fields in 2023. Of these, 492 were in the Lleida region, 115 in Tarragona, 56 in Barcelona and 27 in Girona. However, Protocat assures that there is undeclared land and that, overall, it exceeds 1,000 hectares, distributed among about 150 producers. At the same time, they defend that the final result "is of very good quality" and emphasize that there are no pest problems, such as the truffle beetle, which particularly affects the Teruel area.

However, the world of truffles has a certain aura of mystery. In the same way that mushroom hunters are not very keen on detailing where they get them, truffle producers do not explain where their land is either. "In an unspecified place in the province," they say with irony. They know that it is a very valuable product and that thieves are on the lookout. This means that they have to be very alert about thefts. "There are always few cases and we have not noticed that there has been an increase" in recent years, says Espasa, who adds that thieves are generally also experts in this world and that, consequently, they act with their trained dogs. However, it is "a small world where everyone knows each other and in the end you always end up knowing" who is behind the crime.

So, the main danger they have to face is not thieves, but wild boars. Espasa describes it as "a plague".