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"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

The black truffle from Béziers and the Hérault Valley was sold for 1,000 euros per kg this Sunday, January 26. Antonia Jimenez – ML

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

"Truffle production is plummeting": the warning from the president of "Truffles in Occitanie" during the black diamond festival in Béziers

La truffe noire du Biterrois et de la vallée de l’Hérault était vendue à 1 000 euros le kg ce dimanche 26 janvier. Antonia Jimenez – ML

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This Sunday, January 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the area around the Biltoki market halls in Béziers smelled of truffles, celebrated as it should be by lovers of Tuber melanosporum (black truffle) who did not miss the meeting given by the City and the association of producers “Truffles in Occitania”.

When it comes to celebrating the black truffle, Tuber melanosporum, fans of this rare and coveted mushroom don't wait long. This Sunday, January 26, from 9 a.m., the stands of the eight producers and the “small suppliers” of the association Truffes en Occitanie filled with truffles of all sizes, sold at 1,000 euros per kg, were never empty until lunchtime.

President Antoine Yoris displayed a satisfied smile, insisting on specifying that “the majority of the sixty or so producers as well as the small suppliers – those who, according to our regulations, have produced less than 1.5 kg for sale on this market – are from Béziers and the Hérault valley”.

Sold at 1,000 euros per kg kg

As for the price, “it's the one we found on the markets in the region, like those in Saint-Geniès-des-Mourgues and Sète”. Then, very quickly, Antoine Yoris raises the “problem” facing the “profession”: “At the beginning of the 20th century, Hérault produced between 20 and 25 tonnes of Tuber melanosporum for a total production in France of 1,200 tonnes. In 2024, the total production in France will be around 15 tonnes! We are experiencing a huge decline, an abandonment of this culture, of this production. If we continue like this, production risks disappearing. Hence our work, that of all associations like ours, to ensure that this culture continues. Sales, festivals, fairs, activities around truffles but also future projects, in particular with the private agricultural high school Bonne Terre in Pézenas” (read below).

A project to create a truffle section at the Bonne Terre high school in Pézenas

“In view of this decline in the production of Tuber melanosporum, of the very possible disappearance of the black diamond, we are very worried”, indicates Antoine Yoris, the president of the association of producers “Truffles in Occitania”, who co-organized, with the City, the truffle festival this Sunday, January 26, in Béziers.

Thus, the association decided “to take the bull by the horns. We went to see the Bonne Terre agricultural high school in Pézenas to present the problem to the teams and establish a partnership in order to work together. They became aware of the problem and enthusiastically welcomed the project to create a truffle section. We would thus be, with the Lycée des Territoires du Montat, near Cahors, the second establishment in France (there is no third) to offer such a section".

Antoine Yoris indicates that, starting this spring, the association's producers will plant truffle oak seedlings on a 1-hectare plot belonging to the high school. "This plot will be a reference for the association, because we will do all our experiments there, and for the students, since this is where they will learn. The aim of this project is, in the long term, to make truffles one of the main economies of the Hérault department, and also a way for struggling winegrowers to diversify."

The party continued in and around the market halls until 3 p.m., punctuated by musical performances by the Banda Mescladis, quizzes, demonstrations of digging and an exhibition on the “black diamond” displayed in the market halls.

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Teilor Stone

By Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116