Climate change threatens white truffle harvests across Europe

Hotter summers and prolonged, increasingly erratic drought are reducing white-truffle harvests in Italy and Croatia, producing smaller fungi and making them harder to find. In Italy’s Alba region, this season’s poor crop has coincided with prices 20% to 30% above last year; a Croatian hunter estimates harvests there are about 30% below normal, while scientists report shrinking suitable habitat. Experts say the pressures have been building for years, threatening a prized delicacy and the communities and businesses that depend on it, though they do not consider white truffles on the verge of extinction. Researchers and local authorities are exploring forest restoration, irrigation, and truffle cultivation, but newly planted trees can take more than a decade to become suitable hosts.