Consulting & Site Visits
Science-led, hands-on guidance for every stage of your truffle orchard
Truffle orchards don’t fail or succeed overnight. They drift—quietly—based on hundreds of small decisions about irrigation, soil, groundcover, pruning, and harvest. From the surface, two orchards can look identical; underground and in the data, they can be worlds apart.
American Truffle Company’s Consulting & Site Visits service brings our global truffle science and real-orchard data directly to your site. Drawing on monitoring and experience from orchards in the U.S. and many other countries, we help you diagnose issues, fine-tune management, and increase yields tree by tree.
Why consulting & site visits matter
General growing advice isn’t enough for truffles. This crop sits at the intersection of tree physiology, soil chemistry, microbiology, soil biome, irrigation, and climate—and the signals that something’s wrong are often subtle or invisible without the right tests and trained eyes. An ATC consulting engagement—especially when paired with a site visit—helps you:
- See what’s really happening in the orchard, not just what’s visible from the headland.
- Link soil and root test results with what we observe on the ground.
- Compare your orchard’s development and yields against benchmarks from a global network of truffle sites.
- Turn a long learning curve into a structured, science-based improvement plan.
- Truffle orchard owners who have not produced truffles yet.
- Growers who are producing truffles and want to increase yield and the percentage of trees that fruit each season.
- Prospective growers who are considering truffle cultivation.
Consulting for orchards that haven't produced yet
For non-producing orchards, the central questions are always the same: Is this orchard still on track? If not, why—and what can be done about it? We use site visits and structured analysis to answer those questions honestly and constructively.
During a consulting engagement, we review:
- Site fundamentals: climate, layout, drainage, aspect, and exposure.
- Soil status: pH, trace elements, structure, and key nutrients (often via our Soil Analysis Service).
- Root and mycorrhiza health: whether the truffle fungus is present, thriving, or being outcompeted (via Root Analysis where appropriate).
- Orchard management: irrigation patterns, groundcover, pruning, weed control, pests and any past interventions.
Build a science-based recovery or optimization plan
For orchards that are still within the expected pre-production window, our focus is on optimizing—making sure the critical years leading up to first harvest are managed correctly. For older orchards that appear overdue for production, we focus on diagnosis and recovery, asking:
- Is the truffle fungus still present at useful levels?
- Are soil and water conditions within truffle-friendly thresholds?
- Are there specific blocks that are more promising than others?
From there, we work with you to define a practical plan, which may include:
- Adjusting irrigation scheduling and distribution.
- Modifying groundcover and competition management.
- Updating soil amendment strategy.
- Prioritizing blocks for more intensive monitoring or remedial action.
Our goal is clear: to give you a realistic sense of your orchard’s prospects and a concrete, science-driven plan to improve them—rather than generic reassurance or vague advice.
Consulting for producing orchards: increasing yield and productive trees
Once truffles start appearing, a new challenge emerges: only a portion of the trees actually produce truffles in a typical orchard—often around 30–60%. The rest may host truffle mycorrhiza but never (or rarely) fruit. Your opportunity is to systematically increase the percentage of producing trees and stabilize yields from year to year.
American Truffle Company has the extensive data and deep scientific knowledge to help you do exactly that.
What happens during a site visit
A site visit is where data, theory, and your day-to-day reality meet. While every engagement is tailored, most visits follow a similar structure.
Pre-visit review
Before we arrive, we gather:
- Basic site information (location, age, size, host species).
- Any existing soil, water, and root test results.
- Management history and known issues.
- For producing orchards, maps or records of where truffles have been found.
This ensures our time on site is focused and efficient.
On-the-ground assessment
In the orchard, we:
- Walk representative rows and blocks, looking at tree vigor, groundcover, irrigation, and micro-topography.
- Discuss your management practices on site (what you do, when, and why).
- Identify zones that may merit different treatment than the rest of the orchard.
- Where appropriate, take or supervise soil and root samples for follow-up analysis.
Debrief & immediate guidance
Before leaving, we review initial observations with you:
- Key strengths and risks we see in the orchard.
- Early recommendations that can be implemented right away.
- Additional information or tests needed to refine the plan.
Written report & follow-up
After the visit, you receive a concise, practical report that:
- Summarizes findings in clear, non-technical language.
- Distinguishes between “must-do,” “should-do,” and “nice-to-have” actions.
- Outlines a prioritized roadmap for the next 12–24 months.
Optional follow-up calls give you the opportunity to clarify details and adjust the plan as conditions evolve.
Remote consulting when a site visit isn’t (yet) possible
For some growers, a full site visit is not the first step. We also offer remote consulting:
- Video or phone consultations to review your situation.
- Interpretation of soil, water, and/or root test results.
- High-level assessment of photographs, maps, and available data.
Remote work can be a valuable starting point, with a site visit planned once we have a clearer picture of what’s happening and what you need.
Whom are consulting & site visits for?
This service is designed for:
- Producing growers who want to increase yield, raise the percentage of productive trees, and stabilize production from year to year.
- Non-producing truffle orchard owners who want to understand whether their orchard is on track and how to improve its prospects.
- New or prospective projects considering truffle cultivation and wanting an expert, on-the-ground assessment as part of that decision.
If you are investing years and significant capital into a truffle orchard, expert consulting and site visits are not an indulgence—they’re a way to compress the learning curve and avoid costly, irreversible mistakes.
Turn a “wait and see” orchard into a managed, measurable project
Truffle cultivation will always involve patience. But it doesn’t have to involve guessing.
With ATC’s consulting & site visits, you gain a science-led partner in the field—one who brings global experience with North American-specific expertise, rigorous monitoring, and a focus on yield and productive trees to your specific piece of land.
If you’d like to explore consulting or schedule a site visit—whether your orchard has yet to produce or is already harvesting—we invite you to contact us to discuss options tailored to your site, your stage, and your goals.
We understand the complexities of truffle cultivation & business – we'll help you navigate the maze, together.
Contact us to learn more
and find out how we can help you