Farmers in Western Australia have expanded their truffle production in response to increasing worldwide demand. Droughts in Europe and rapidly-growing new markets are driving this demand. Adam Wilson, managing director of Great Southern Truffles, notes the dramatic change in truffle eating preferences in Japan. This changing tide puts Australia in a wonderfully advantageous position in the international marketplace.
A new crop of farmers Australia’s existing farmers growing black truffles mainly in winter—about 14 weeks of harvesting time each winter. A groundbreaking trial on a sheep and vegetable farm along Western Australia’s southern coast seeks to transform this situation by tripling the state’s truffle production. This initiative aims to extend the harvest season into spring and summer, a significant shift from the traditional winter-only cultivation.
The Trial on the Southern Coast
Mark McHenry, a physicist-turned-farmer on his family’s longstanding Denmark acreage, stands at the vanguard of this novel experiment. He describes how the mushrooms mycelium network symbiotically develops along tree roots. They’re typically harvested by hand, and they command high prices from chefs—great black-market value for a mushroom. With prices climbing past $3,500 per kilogram, the profit-motive is enormous.
“We know that Denmark, with the rain that we’ve got at the moment, with the climate that we’ve got here and with the soil, we’re going to yield big volumes,” McHenry states confidently. Water, as you might guess, is critical, with 85 percent of the truffle being water, he blasts the cocoa chap.
The trial involves inoculating oak and pine trees with spring and summer truffle species for the first time in Western Australia. This strategy prioritizes consistent and dependable harvests in the sunny summer months. It accomplishes this by filling one of the most significant gaps in the existing production cycle.
“Fungus needs water, 85 percent of the actual truffle itself is water — hopefully we’re never going to go into the same problem that they’re having in Europe,” – Mark McHenry
McHenry thinks that their irrigation systems makes them competitive compared to European producers that many times fail without those resources. “We’ve got irrigation … they never set up any of their production with irrigation, so they’re not going to get the yields like we’re going to get,” he adds.
Collaboration and Innovation in Truffle Cultivation
This collaborative effort between the local farmer community and global partners is at the heart of this project. Using cutting-edge biological testing techniques, McHenry tells us, they’re able to guarantee the quality of those seedlings. “We test every single piece of biology that goes onto those seedlings with eDNA, then it goes onto the supercomputer,” explains McHenry.
This careful process means they can be confident that only the sought-after truffle species are being inoculated onto the tree roots. “It’s inoculated with the truffle species we want and not one that we don’t want … then we bring it out here and transplant it,” he details.
Professor Treena Burgess, who helped develop these cultivation techniques, emphasizes the benefits achieved via international collaboration. “The people we’re working with overseas have developed these species for cultivation in Europe,” she notes. “They are already ahead of where we would have been if we didn’t have their input.”
Market Trends and Export Potential
The broader implication of these efforts is huge. The Australian truffle industry has seen some incredible expansion. In 2024, it exported more than 11 tons of truffles, worth more than $9 million! Japan and Germany being the major consumers, for whom truffles are greatly coveted.
“The places that they’re not growing are the ones that consume more of them,” Wilson remarks, highlighting a critical opportunity for Australian producers. He points out that with changing climates and increased demand, diversifying truffle production could position Australia as a key player in the global market.
