Truffles are in demand in the world of gourmet foods. With production down in Europe, Chilean innovators are venturing out into a once unknown market for South America.

Today, Chilean producer Agrobiotruf sells around 20,000 truffles a year and to date has sold more than 180 hectares worth of the high-end mushroom. When the company started its first experimental crops in 2004 however, truffles had not yet appeared on the South American radar.

Truffles come from a fungus generated in certain types of trees, undergoing a symbiosis that generates the special properties and flavor of the product. In Chile, truffle plantations have been formed in treed forests such as Quercus ilex and Quercus robur groves.

On a gastronomic level truffles are a crowd pleaser, impressing the most demanding of palates, even in small portions.  Their cultivation however takes time and patience, factors that Agrobiotruf was willing to take a risk on when it dived into the largely unknown truffle market 12 year ago.

In a www.freshfruitportal.com exclusive, we speak with Rafael Henriquez, a forester and partner of Agrobiotruf; pioneers in the feasibility studies for truffle cultivation in Chile.

Henriquez said the idea of growing truffles sprung from the internet, where in 1999 a group of foresters from Universidad Católica del Maule discovered this new crop being developed in New Zealand.

"In Chile, no one knew anything about truffles. We realized that this was a crop that had a high price, was forest based and needed agronomic management. It was a very special project and we presented it to Chile's Foundation for Agricultural Innovation (FIA), which gave us funds for research and consultation with an expert. This would determine if Chile had the potential to develop the truffle."

With the help of expert and current partner Santiago Reyna Domenech, the group was able to attain its first orchard for planting. The 2004 research had been a success, the climate was right, they were confident in the species that best produced the fungus and the experimental fields were being created. The only thing left was the fruition of the mushroom.

"Back then, the fungus took 10 to 12 years to mature. Today we have managed to reduce the time to 5 years through stimulations, good land use and irrigation. Everything is thanks to the responsible management of the producer. "

Only dreamers

Given the factors needed for quality production, selling the plant became very complicated.

As Rafael Henriquez said, "It was very hard for people to believe you about something that was not already fruitful in Chile and that nobody knew."

However, there were some brave people who saw truffles as a gold mine and took risks.

In 2009, five years after establishing the experimental fields, the group found its first truffle. With the fruit in hand, the foresters’ project no longer seemed so far-fetched.

"While in Chile this year, they weren’t able to produce 10 kilos (22lbs) of truffles, we are just starting. This year there are six orchards and 47 producers who have opted for the truffle. Today we are not alone; we know that there are companies that have established orchards of 10 acres or 5 acres. That says that the market is developing. "

He said that those that are currently producing truffles run experimental fields and a few private fields.

So that the fruit has the consistency and quality expected, however, orchard management is critical, said Henriquez.

"We expect the productivity level to reach 30 kilos (66lbs) per hectare a year, which after 12 years of cultivation, would be the peak of production. One of the secrets to making the crop profitable between years 5 and 12 is that producers maintain ground and water conditions so that the mushrooms grow properly.

"In Europe, truffles have always been valued. One hundred years ago, over 1,000 metric tons (MT) were produced and today between Spain, France and Italy, which are the main producers in the world, not even 80MT are reached. There is a demand that must be met," Henriquez said.

Recognizing Innovation

In 2012, Agrobiotruf  was recognized at the Fruittrade convention as the “Innovative Farmer of 2012” by the Chilean  Ministry of Agriculture and BASF, for being the first in Chile and all of South America to reap the fruit and  for pioneering an area previously unknown.

"That's 12 years of research that, much like our truffles, are just beginning to bear fruit," Henriquez said.

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