This fungus, a symbol of French gastronomy, is in increasing competition with products from Spain.
On the black truffle market of Lalbenque (Lot), the tuber melanosporum, the black truffle of Périgord, is sold at an average price of 550 euros per kilo. During the 2018 season, 30 tons of black truffles were harvested by some 20,000 French truffle farmers. But on the other side of the Pyrenees, the harvest amounted to 45 tons, according to the figures of the French Federation of Trufficulteurs (FFT). It has been three years since Iberian production exceeded that of France.
"Spaniards produce a lot but do not consume. Truffles are not part of their culinary tradition ", confirms Michel Tournayre, president of the FFT. " We shouldn’t have to sell truffles from other countries because of our lack of production in France."
Truffle production in Spain is very recent and has benefited from exceptional support from the government, regions and Europe in order to develop. "They have large fields and have benefited from subventions" intended to ensure irrigation of the soil, explains Alain Ambialet, co-president of the Federation of trufficulteurs of Occitanie. "They have thus caught up with 200 years of history," says Mr. Tournayre, who advocates a professionalization of trufficulteurs but also support for the development of French production.
