Pioneering an American Truffle Industry
Written by Quentin Lebeau
Photos by Staci O’Toole
Staci's dog, Mila.
The truffle industry in America is rapidly growing and modernizing, and one of the people leading that charge is Staci O’Toole, a former health insurance executive, and owner of Truffle Huntress. She owns a large truffle farm outside of Lake Tahoe, and has now been in the industry for eight years. She compares the U.S. truffle industry to its now-booming wine industry. “People laughed at them.” Staci O’Toole says, referring to Napa Valley wine producers in the 1960’s. At that time, Napa wasn’t the wine industry that it is today, it was a land of potential that hadn’t yet been developed. Today, this is how Staci sees the American truffle industry. The North American Truffle Growers Association (NATGA) estimates that there are “likely 200 truffle installations planted in the US ranging in size from a few trees to over several thousand.” The potential is there, it just needs to be capitalized on.
Before retiring from her job in Silicon Valley, Staci’s main thought was not of truffles, but of buying a dog. After months of research, she finally decided on the dog breed, Lagotto Romagnolo. They are loyal, hypoallergenic, non-shedding, athletic, and everything you’d want in a dog, but upon further research she found they are also bred to sniff out truffles. Following the skills of her dog, Staci found herself travelling all around the Unites States, and eventually to Europe to learn more about truffle farming. She participated in training sessions, competitions and conferences, using her degree in biological sciences to further her understanding of truffle cultivation. Through all this travel and training, Staci realized that this was the dream job she had been looking for, as it included all or her passions: food, wine, animals and the outdoors.
Soon afterwards, she was asked to survey an deserted farm in Placerville, California, outside of Lake Tahoe. It had been an existing truffle farm that was abandoned, and presented the perfect opportunity to be reclaimed. Since then, she has grown that farm into the Truffle Huntress business that is today.
Harvesting in the Oak Orchard.
While it sounds like an appealing occupation, without the right knowledge and training, truffle farms can be extremely difficult to start. Truffles are a subterranean fungus that create a symbiotic relationships with the trees around them. The tree feeds the fungus sugar, and in turn, it assists the roots in taking up minerals and nutrients from the soil. Upon reaching maturity, the truffle releases a smell that animals are able to detect and dig up. It is at this stage, that dogs (and their noses) become crucial. Truffle Hunters attempt to find this occurrence in the wild, usually a forest, where truffles are suspected to be growing. However, a truffle farmer begins this process from the very beginning.
When starting a farm, even more variables arise. Certain trees host specific types of truffles, and thus when starting the farm, you must pick the correct trees for the type of truffles you want to cultivate. In addition, proper soil pH, irrigation, weed and pest control are essential in a cultivating a successful harvest. This involves purchasing the land, modifying the soil, planting the trees and then waiting. The ecological impact is similar to that of tree farm, and involves steady care and maintenance to ensure that the trees, and the potential truffles remain healthy. This growing process can take over five years before a single truffle may even reach maturity. In the face of this difficult collection of variables at play, truffle farming requires a lot of resilience and patience.
Staci, as well as other Truffle farming pioneers, along with the NATGA, have been active in attempting to reduce the variable difficulties in the farming process. The first way they’ve achieved this is by looking to the scientists and drawing in more European experts to America. One way the NATGA has helped to create stronger education, is by annually bringing in experts from Europe to speak at their conference. This helps to reduce the need for international travel, and has strengthened the system of resources at home. In addition to their main conference, they’ve also created and collected webinars, research journals, presentations and expert advisors for member use year-around. Through this collective database, a network of truffle farmers across the United States has also emerged, allowing for a free flow of information from one member to the next. In an industry that has struggled to find a consensus “best practice” growing technique, the collection of information and merging of the minds is a significant step.
The second major way they’ve begun to open up the industry is through creating more scientific farming practices. The hope is that through the research, farmers will learn how to cultivate more guaranteed yields, and in turn be able to establish stable supply networks and steady business operations. Staci says, “the goal is to gather more scientific research, and make it a more sophisticated practice. Making it more like farming, with all the usual farming techniques, rather than a form of ‘lifestyle farming’.” Currently, much of a season’s truffle yield is left up to chance, in that there’s still not a ton of certainty in the amount and quality farmers will receive. In talking about these supply issues, Staci said, “restaurants are happy to have fresh truffles form California, but currently, supply is too irregular to sustain sourcing from solely California. Instead importing is needed to fulfill the orders.” She went on to say, “hopefully the future in the truffle industry comes in the form of a cooperative, in which all the local truffle farmers can come together to supply the restaurants, and importing will no longer be required.” This would allow for a steadier supply chain, and would be the first step in creating a more permanent truffle economy within the United States.
Today, Staci continues to work to push forward the knowledge of American truffle farmers. Researchers from UC Davis have begun to run tests on her farm, in an effort to learn more about the optimal conditions, and create a better working knowledge of how to best grow truffles. At the same time, Staci is going to other farms on the west coast, especially newer ones, to consult for them. Like Napa Valley before it, the hope is that through hard work and ingenuity, truffles will leave the singularity of their European context, and join a more global food conversation.
