TECNOTRUF Operational Group: New technologies in the management of truffle plantations to improve the economic performance of farms.

The project aims to design an innovative global production and marketing model for products and services related to the black truffle, a hypogeal mycorrhizal fungus that grows symbiotically with a host tree. TECNOTRUF will provide the industry with the latest scientifically based technology to meet the needs identified in black truffle production on plantations under different ecological conditions. It also seeks to innovate in the marketing channels for truffle-derived products. TECNOTRUF will focus on the management of truffle plantations, which will be the priority area of the project. These plantations are formed by the union and collaboration of a host tree (90% of the plantations use Quercus ilex as a tree species) and the development of a fungus (Tuber melanosporum) and are generators of great socioeconomic wealth, capable of developing an economic sector that has a special impact on the rural environment and specifically on the most depopulated areas of our country.

Therefore, the project is linked, as a secondary thematic area, to innovation in alternative marketing channels for this product and all associated services. Furthermore, the project incorporates innovative elements into three AEI-AGRI objectives. On the one hand, it promotes economic and environmental efficiency in the truffle farming sector, a sector that straddles agriculture and forestry, to optimize processes throughout the system, making it economically viable, productive, and competitive, as well as socially and environmentally responsible. It also aims to enhance existing knowledge and provide the sector with professionalism, given the scarcity of available knowledge at a comprehensive technical level.