Oregon Truffle Festival Speakers Present A Major Breakthrough: The First Large-scale Commercial Cultivation Of Truffles Outside Of France

Between June and August of this year, renowned Australian mycologist Dr. Nick Malajczuk of Australia proved the concept that truffles can be grown on a large scale outside of France, with 3.3 metric tons of Perigord truffles produced in an 80-acre orchard of hazelnut and oak trees inoculated with the rare fungus. Truffles are one of the world's most expensive foods with U.S. wholesale prices approaching $1,000 per pound, and the cultivation of this delicacy represents a major breakthrough in agriculture. Malajczuk will present these results for the first time to a North American audience in his keynote presentation at the seventh annual Oregon Truffle Festival, to be held Jan. 27-29, 2012.

Malajczuk's lecture will serve as the culmination of a day of presentations from truffle researchers drawn from around the globe as part of the Truffle Growers' Forum. The Forum is an annual gathering that serves as a focal point for the international truffle industry and takes place over the first two days of the Oregon Truffle Festival. Day two includes a tour of an established truffle orchard, as well as a unique opportunity to hunt for truffles in the wild. Featured speakers also include Marcos Morcillo and Dr. Xavier Vilanova of Barcelona, Spain, whose company, Micologia Forestal & Aplicada of Barcelona, has successfully helped approximately 300 farmers in Spain, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile to produce this lucrative crop.

"These results are a game changer," said Dr. Charles Lefevre, mycologist and co-founder of the Oregon Truffle Festival. "We've seen a number of small-scale successes around the planet over the past decade, but now that returns from one season in a single orchard can be measured in the millions of dollars, and the number of successful orchards is entering the thousands, the level of interest is becoming intense."

Truffles, a hidden food delicacy, are traditionally harvested by trained pigs and dogs. The Festival's educational seminars also include the two-day Truffle Dog Training Seminar, in which attendees introduce their dogs to the aroma of truffles on the first day and give dogs the authentic experience of hunting Oregon's native truffles in the wild on the second. As this industry flourishes, the Oregon Truffle Festival's educational seminars fill an essential need for American truffle growers.

Registration is now open for Oregon Truffle Festival weekend experiences and the Grand Truffle Dinner. Six weekend and several stand-alone options are available, including cooking classes, winery luncheons, truffle forays, farm tours and multi-course truffle dinners, in addition to the educational seminars. All options may be purchased online at http://www.oregontrufflefestival.com.