Truffle Farming

A

alexandra123

Registered User
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Hello All,

Just looking for some advice. I was listening to the small rave around growing truffles in Ireland and I think this is a venture I would like to take up and see how well it does. I know there is a potential risk with the crop not being successful, but I have a couple of questions if people can offer advice.

1. If I wanted to purchase 2 acres of land, am I purchasing agricultural land or a different type of land? When I search for land most come with the signage to say subject to local needs approval, which seems to be that the land is for housing development. Am I meant to search for a certain type of land when I am on the property websites? I don't want to purchase land that costs more because it has planning permission. I also don't want to purchase land that is already set up for forestation as I would have to dig up the trees and replant the trees with the required organisms on the roots.
2. If I was to buy the land, is it considered forestation and before buying the land, do I need to see if approval from government bodies is required?
3. What do I register the land as...is their a specific land use type , .like is it forestation , mushrooming etc ?
4. If income is gained from the land, is that subject to tax ? I am already within the payee sector and will remain so, until I retire, which is nearly 20 years away.
5. What would you reckon would be the start up costs ? I was thinking 30k for the land, 5-10k for consultation fee with a successful truffle company, 25k for the trees and maybe 5k to prep the land.

To be quite honest this is all very new to me and I have no clue about land or anything like that, but it really interests me.
Does anyone have any other advice ?

Thanks in advance
 
I can't help you unfortunately but this is a most interesting idea.

I think there was an item on RTE recently (Nationwide/Ear to the Ground?) about truffle farming.

All the best with your plans.
 
A friend of mine got this bright idea a few years ago, so he and I visited a truffle farm in Limerick I think.

It was very interesting, but I got the impression that it was madly speculative.

I think it's really only suitable for someone who owns a few acres already and has plenty of money and time and enjoys showing people around a piece of land and pointing out what looks like ordinary parched grass saying "truffle".

And you have to buy a trained dog who can find them without eating them.

I think you would be better off buying a stretch of river and panning for gold.

Brendan
 
You'd be mad to buy land to try this venture.

Have you a garden? If so, consider buying a couple of the trees, impregnated with the truffle seed and try them. Otherwise, maybe meet a local farmer and ask him if you could plant a few on his hedges/ditches and try them.

At the rate you're going, you'll be spending €70K on a speculative venture, with no guarantee of any return!
 
I take Brendan's point, you definitely need to be in the I want to do this and I can afford it category.

But hey anyone can buy a €50k watch or €100k car, hats off to the person who wants to plant a truffle farm.

Land which is not suitable for agriculture can be bought for €3,000 an acre. The best place to find it believe it or not is on done deal. Estate agents are not bothered with selling a few acres for less than €10k.

You may well get a grant for the tree planting.

If you don't mind my saying so you do not seem to have much business experience, but I think you might learn a lot, have fun doing it and maybe even make some money.

Please let us know.
 
A friend of mine is a scientist familiar with this topic and we have discussed it many many times as I love mushrooms! He says truffles, especially black truffles, require the right soil, the right aspect and the right climate to succeed (and they mostly grow in very specific regions in France and Spain and italy, so that is what you are trying to reproduce). The truffle/ tree root/soil relationship is very complex and would need to establish itself in a new soil where it has not been before. Frequently, the truffle fungus does not succeed and other 'false truffles', naturally occurring , can take their place or the true truffle simply does not survive. It is a gamble, which like the lotto, can pay out big time, but there are many more failures that do not get recorded. Often the people who promote growing truffles in new locations (e.g. outside France, Spain, Italy) are those with a vested interest in selling the trees with the truffle on their roots. This can be done easily enough in a nursery with a fairly neutral peat based soil, but the battle begins once the trees are planted out in proper soil. You have to wait about 10 years before the truffle fruits develop and then locate them with a specialist dog or pig! Of course its very secretive and with little information available, apart from the occasional 'lotto winner' apparently. Personally, if there were French/Italian or Spanish guys involved I might be tempted, and if I had sound advice on the right soil/climate/aspect requirements. Otherwise I'd just be happy to plant a few trees and wait and see, (like the lotto last week that I didn't win!) and enjoy the trees anyway!
 
Recent RTE article on this topic:

The growing and cultivation of these rare truffles are part of an experimental project which has been under way in Ireland for nearly ten years.
Five landowners and farmers have been taking part in the project...
The project is being led by Professor Paul Thomas of the University of Sterling and who also works with the company Mycorrhizal Systems, which provides advice and expertise on the growing of truffles.

Black truffles cultivated in Ireland for first time

Black truffles have been cultivated in Ireland in recent weeks, in what is believed to be the first time they have been successfully grown and cultivated here.
www.rte.ie
 
Brendan Burgess said:
What's wrong with Irish guys
Click to expand...
We don't have a culture of truffle cultivation. In France, Italy and Spain they are mostly found in native forests in certain areas. They too have been trying to establish new truffle plantations, often with not much success. But some successes have been made, so it's possible, but they are usually kept quite secret! It is a very secretive business.

My friend knows too of truffles developing in one new plantation, but they did not last. After a few years the harvest declined and was replaced with false truffles of no commercial value.
 
I would visit existing truffle enterprises in Europe, and speak with European experts, if you can. A lot more independent, long term research is needed to determine if there is potential in Ireland. There may well be. We will know when we start hearing of Irish truffles for sale on a regular basis rather than more truffle plantations being set up! Watch this space in 10 years time. Irish truffles would be lovely! (And not the Baileys variety, tho they would be lovely for afters!)
 
The catch of course is that the more successful plantations there are, this could lead to a reduction in market price.
 
This is quite obvious and a strange question to have been asked.

There's no culture and virtually no knowledge of truffle cultivation in Ireland.
 
Anecdotally a film staring Nicholas cage as a reclusive truffle forager was just released on Netflix.....danger is another aspect to consider!

Robin "Rob" Feld is a former Portland-based chef turned reclusive truffle forager. Living in a cabin deep in the Oregon forests, he hunts for truffles with the help of his prized foraging pig. He sells the truffles to Amir, a young and inexperienced supplier of luxury ingredients to high-end restaurants. One night, Rob is assaulted by unidentified assailants as they steal his pig. He reaches out to Amir, who helps him locate a group of impoverished drug addicts suspected by another local truffle-hunter of being the culprits. They claim to have given the pig to someone from downtown Portland.

Pig (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
 
There is a woman in Carlow who started growing snails as she couldn't get them in Ireland, people said she was mad. Last year she exported 5 tonnes of them to Singapore. Craziness works sometimes

Might be worth reaching out to your local LEO office, they might be able to give some advise, either directly or via the Leader programme
 
Peanuts20 said:
who started growing snails as she couldn't get them in Ireland,
Click to expand...

Snails are in abundance in Ireland - and you get an annual crop immediately.

Truffles are relatively rare here. Not sure if it's the weather or the host trees.

Fungi are very complex and unpredictable

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures — Merlin Sheldrake

"Entangled Life is a mercurial, revelatory, impassioned, urgent, astounding, and necessary read. It’s fearless in scope, analytically astute, and brimming with infectious joy." — Helen Macdonald
www.merlinsheldrake.com

Brendan

​

 
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