plantation
NEWS
Prof. Paul Thomas (our Managing Director) has appeared on several TV programmes, radio shows and in many written articles. Specific areas of expertise include the biology, cultivation, hunting and cooking methods of the wide range of truffle species. If you would like an interview or require information for an article then please use our contact form and we would be very happy to help.
Below, our most recent news articles are displayed and our back-catalogue is open for browsing.
January 18, 2017
In the Farmers Weekly Christmas special edition Isabel Davies interviewed Dr Thomas and a current plantation owner, who is on track to start commercially harvesting this upcoming season, about the suitability of truffles as a crop for farm diversification. Truffles was one of four crops featured by Farmers Weekly as having great potential for diversification on UK and Irish farms.
December 11, 2016
In May, Sebastian Kraves, a molecular neurobiologist, was invited to give a TED Talk about the miniPCR DNA Discovery System that his team had developed. During his talk Sebastian discusses how Dr Paul Thomas has utilised this DNA coding technology to ensure that the truffle spores we work with are the genuine truffle species we require. This scientific approach to truffle cultivation is what makes Mycorrhizal Systems technological leaders in truffle culivation.
December 10, 2016
In November The New York Times ran a feature on our sister company, the Amercian Truffle Company and reported how Dr Thomas is influencing the American truffle industry.
November 29, 2016
Mico from Gawlet & Oklat Mico, an Arabic food and travel TV show, joined Dr Thomas on one of Welsh plantations to find out about cultivating truffles, hunting for truffles and cooking with truffles! If you’ve wondered what a UK truffle plantation looks like and how dogs are used to hunt truffles then this is the episode for you.
September 11, 2016
This autumn Mycorrhizal Systems will be attending two exhibitions where we will be offering advice and information on truffle cultivation. Come and talk to us to around any aspects of planting truffle trees and growing truffles, we’ll be happy to help you. The APF exhibition in Alcester, Warwickshire on 15th, 16th and 17th September 2016 The Farm Business Innovation exhibition show at Birmingham’s NEC on the 9th & 10th of November 2016 Click through for more information around these events.
September 3, 2016
Margherita Taylor of BBC Countryfile Summer Diaries charts the progress of Dr Paul Thomas’ black truffle cultivation success from the Dragon’s Den to our successful first harvest here in the UK 12 years later. The feature covers some of the history and cultivation of truffles, and gives an insight into the stages that the truffle trees go under in our laboratory and specialist nursery, plus follows Freddy the truffle dog on an exploratory hunt!
July 25, 2016
Following on from our recent ground breaking truffle harvest in Monmouthshire, Wales, we have been busy being interviewed by the press and media and this week we have been featured on BBC Radio Wales and ITV News discussing truffles and our truffle tree plantations.
June 29, 2016
After 8 years of waiting, the first farmed Welsh truffle has just been harvested in southern Wales by an extremely excited cultivator: “I still can’t believe it, I’m over the moon!”. Wishing to remain anonymous, the Welsh orchard owner added: “It’s the most potent perfume I have ever smelt! Better than the ones I’ve bought-in. Wonderful”. The site is on pH-adjusted soil and was planted with English oak, holm oak and hazel, all inoculated with summer truffle. The owner completed some basic truffle-dog training and had moved to using fresh truffle as a scent source on the same day that the cultivated truffle was found. The 38g find known as the Summer or Burgundy truffle (Tuber aestivum syn. uncinatum) is the first to be cultivated in Wales and adds to MSL’s other successes in truffle cultivation throughout the UK and the world.
April 8, 2016
Climate change is happening. This we know. But how will climate change impact on truffle production and supply? In this article Dr Thomas discusses how the predicated changes in climate would impact Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) production.
