Harvest Reports
2011 OAK VALLEY TRUFFLE HARVEST REPORT
The 2011 truffle harvest at Oak Valley has seen just on 17kgs of saleable truffle produced. This follows on from the 8.8kgs harvested in 2010.This harvest follows the pattern which was expected from the site with several years of small growth followed by an exponential increase.
The harvest resulted in approximately 410 truffles being found on the Oak Valley Property. The manager is particularly pleased that the truffles continue to be located fairly evenly across the trufferie. Our truffle hunter Leah Bradbury and her dogs Digit and Nero were kept busy covering the entire property. Leah has acquired a third dog, Bindy, which she is training up for the 2012 harvest. The manager also contracted for the most experienced truffle hunter in Australia, Damon Boorman, to spend several sessions throughout the season providing advanced training to the staff and dogs whilst also hunting truffles.
The trufferie at nearby Hazel Hill had a harvest of over 3000kgs this year which was nearly double their 2010 harvest. This farm has been yielding since 2003 and the harvest has increased each year from similar small beginnings to the Oak Valley Trufferie. The Oak Valley Trufferie should follow in this same pattern.
The increased harvest volumes from Manjimup and Tasmania has seen prices decline a little from the 2010 levels so revenue has not doubled as a result of the doubling of the harvest weight. As well the 2008 trufferie owners will receive an income stream for the first time as a result of the harvest and thus the revenue will be further divided.
Revenue from the sale of the 2011 harvested truffles will be reflected in the income statement issued to trufferie owners in May 2012. This will be used to offset the management fees due at that time.
2010 OAK VALLEY TRUFFLE HARVEST REPORT
As previously advised the annual Truffle Harvest report will be sent out at the conclusion of the truffle harvesting season and not on July 31st each year as set out in the relevant product disclosure statement. The annual truffle harvest report will be issued on or about 30 September each year.
The 2010 truffle harvest has been an unexpected but exciting event for all staff associated with the Oak Valley Truffle Projects. It was not thought possible that truffles would be produced and found so early. The forecast in the project projections was for the first small harvest to occur in 2012 based on the experience at the nearby Hazel Hill trufferie. Management believe that this earlier production was a result of the quality of the tree inoculation and the ground preparation. The health and ‘happiness’ of the oak and hazel trees under the dedicated care of the Farm Manager Fabio Dietos and his assistant Eric Constable is also not to be underestimated.
The harvest this year resulted in 151 truffles with a saleable weight of 8.8 kg. The quality of the truffles has been excellent and the majority have been sold as premium fresh truffles. Truffles were sold within Western Australia, on the East coast and to Asia.
Truffles were produced on both the four year old and three year old trees. The production was evenly spread across the property and also between the hazel and oak trees.
When the first two truffles were identified by the Farm Manager, Truffle Projects Pty Ltd quickly moved to add an experienced dog handler and two trained truffle dogs (‘Nero’ a Labrador and ‘Digit’ a Springer Spaniel) to the permanent farm staff. As the season progressed, ‘Bill’ our Farm Manager’s Labrador also became proficient at locating the prized fungus.
The management team are pleased to have successfully managed the first harvest from Oak Valley. This first small crop enabled procedures to be put in place to cope with the harvest, cleaning and storage of the truffles and the processing and transport of orders.
From experience we can expect a good growth in yield next season. The team will be fully prepared for next year now that this first harvest is behind us.
Revenue from the sale of the harvested truffles will be reflected in the income statement issued to trufferie owners in June 2011.