A Triumph of Truffles

Mycorrhiza Biotech (MBT) is excited to announce our first truffle harvest. Our truffle-mycorrhized loblolly pines, planted by a client in July of 2014, are producing the delicious Bianchetto truffle – Tuber borchii. A wonderfully fragrant white truffle, Bianchetto truffles are perfect for finishing sauces or enhancing the flavor of any entrée. Current market prices are about $35 per ounce. Although this momentous milestone was a decade in the making we never doubted it would come. We relentlessly pursued our vision while carefully designing our scientific protocols over the past 10 years to ensure our operation would be the gold standard for truffle cultivation in the United States. Initially, it seemed like a simple concept since truffles grow on the roots of trees.

“How hard can it be? Don’t ever ask that. You may spend the next decade finding out!” said Mycorrhiza Biotech CEO Nancy Rosborough. The MBT team has meticulously monitored and managed the client orchard where the pines have experienced exceptional growth. We are the first to grow Bianchetto truffles on an economically and ecologically important agroforestry tree, loblolly pine, with a record setting harvest in two years and three months. Most trees produce Tuber borchii after at least 4 years. We are sure the quick harvest is driven by our proprietary system and the client’s diligent adherence to our recommended management protocols.

We can confirm with scientific certainty, the truffles we are currently harvesting are authentic Bianchetto truffles. MBT works with all of our clients to laboriously document and adjust our farming techniques to make sure our trees produce truffles and our clients receive a substantial return on their investment as quickly as possible. The successful combination of hard work, rigorous science, and solid agricultural practices has resulted in the bountiful harvest of a prized culinary delight. For more information – download our white paper – Successful Truffle Cultivation Runs on Science.

A decade ago Mycorrhiza Biotech set out on a mission to help land owners, especially farmers, keep and expand their agricultural enterprises while promoting plant health. Recognizing the significance of mycorrhiza and the opportunity to bring science to a nascent industry, MBT launched itself as a full service agribusiness promoting “truffle seedling certification” (including DNA-based screening), standard analysis, custom assay design, and SEM work (Scanning Electron Microscopy). Our approach to establishing profitable truffle orchards includes a full-cycle of services from site selection, in depth soil testing, to seedling propagation, through ongoing orchard management. MBT starts with a seed from a trusted source and we “usher” that seed through all the stages of propagation to yield a field-ready, highly-mycorrhized seedling. Our client relationship does not end when we deliver our trees. Our team works tirelessly to gather and evaluate site data translating it into information with action items to ensure our client orchards produce as expected.

Mycorrhiza Biotech has toiled with laser focus on our mission and as we reap the harvest we know we could not have done it alone. Were it not for our partnership with NC A&T State University, especially the Mushroom Biology and Fungal Biotechnology Laboratory, led by Dr. Omon. Isikhuemhen, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center with the support of its Piedmont Triad office, we would have closed our doors years ago. Indeed, it was two state grants we received from the NC Biotech Center to research loblolly pine and pecan truffles with NC A&T that laid the groundwork for our recent breakthrough harvest.

These successful partnerships complemented our work and now MBT is the only company producing truffles on loblolly pine in North America. Finally, we would not be successful without our clients who saw the potential, shared our vision, devoted their resources, and literally put the “plow to the ground” to make the orchards prosper. We look forward to weekly harvests for the remainder of the truffle season and for our other clients to have their orchards yield a bounty of exquisite truffles soon. Watch our website www.mycorrhizabiotech.com for news and upcoming events.

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