From Italy to Croatia, a warming climate threatens prized white truffles
Prices are up 20% to 30% at Alba’s market as hot, dry summers leave white truffles smaller and scarcer, organizers said.
- On October 1, 2026, truffle hunters in Alba, Italy, and Croatia began their season confronting a significant challenge: climate change and prolonged drought are severely reducing harvests of the prized white fungus.
- Antonio Degiacomi, president of Italy's National Centre for Truffle Studies, cited hotter summers and erratic rainfall for poor production, while Petar Alebic, a truffle hunter in Croatia, noted harvest conditions have worsened annually for eight years.
- Prices at Alba's truffle market are running about 20% to 30% higher than last year, according to Axel Iberti, president of the International White Truffle Fair, with top specimens fetching up to $4,500 per kilogram.
- Hunters and landowners are collaborating to create new public truffle grounds and plant trees that could eventually support future growth, as communities expand the fair's focus beyond tourism to include environmental education.
- Researchers are studying improved forest management and experimental irrigation to help habitats adapt, though Degiacomi said, "I don't think we're facing extinction; we're facing a challenge.
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From Italy to Croatia, a warming climate threatens prized white truffles – WTOP News
ALBA, Italy (AP) — Guided by the beam of a flashlight, Tino Marolo follows his dog Stella through the darkness of a Piedmont woodland, searching for one of Italy’s most prized culinary treasures hidden beneath the soil. In the hills around Alba, home to the world’s most famous white truffles, hunters known as “trifolau” traditionally begin their season on Oct. 1. But increasingly, they are confronting a challenge above ground: climate change. Mo…
Climate change is unexpectedly three-year-old Europe - prized white truffle harvests, hunters and researchers in Italy and Croatia say
Winnipeg Free Press
From Italy to Croatia, a warming climate threatens prized white truffles
ALBA, Italy (AP) — Guided by the beam of a flashlight, Tino Marolo follows his dog Stella through the darkness of a Piedmont woodland, searching for one of Italy’s most prized culinary treasures hidden beneath the soil.
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