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Posted: 2018-11-24 00:27:32

Black, or Perigord, truffles regularly fetch more than €1,000 euros ($1,567) a kilogram, but they have been known to sell for twice as much after a bad season, according to Thomas, who also heads truffle consultancy Mycorrhizal Systems.

Wholesale prices tracked by Bloomberg for the black's even rarer cousin, the Italian white truffle, doubled last year after a poor harvest.

Thomas and Ulf Buntgen, a professor at Cambridge University's Department of Geography, analysed 36 years of data on Mediterranean truffle yields and used climate projections to estimate a decline in southern European output by 78 to 100 per cent by the end of the century.

That could be hastened by events such as heatwaves and forest fires, they warn.

But fungus fans shouldn't be down in the mouth. Truffles may have a future in cooler northern climates such as the UK and Ireland, where mild winters mean heavy frost won't damage the tubers. While truffle cultivation is notoriously tricky, Thomas has carried out successful trials in the UK.

"In 2017 we produced the Perigord truffle for the first time in Wales, and we are doing another larger scale trial," he said.

Bloomberg

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