The Secret of Business: How to Create a Truffle Plantation?

Bulgaria is among the market leaders in white and black truffle exports in Europe, but what efforts lie behind such a business and whether farmers can rely on a steady income from cultural truffle plantations, Atanas Atanasov told Agri.BG, who together with Dimitar Dimitrov are marketing cultivated saplings infected with the delicacy mushroom's mycelium on the Bulgarian market. "We offer 18 types of saplings on the market, which are of French origin. Currently, 90% of truffle production in Europe comes from such plantations," Atanas Atanasov commented on the quality of his production. He has already created 50 decares of new plantations in the Balchik region and relies on the harvest from around 40 decares of an old, already fruiting forest. Among the tree species "infected" with truffles are oak, sessile oak, linden, pine, hazel, and hornbeam. Atanasov adds that interest in saplings is currently increasing, with demand in Dobruja, Montana region, Plovdiv region, and the Balkan ...