{"id":5354,"date":"2026-02-09T18:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/?p=5354"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:42:54","slug":"researchers-from-agrotecnio-the-ctfc-and-the-university-of-lleida-call-for-a-legal-framework-for-truffle-cultivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/researchers-from-agrotecnio-the-ctfc-and-the-university-of-lleida-call-for-a-legal-framework-for-truffle-cultivation\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers from Agrotecnio, the CTFC and the University of Lleida call for a legal framework for truffle cultivation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>An\u00a0article\u00a0highlights\u00a0the\u00a0urgent\u00a0need\u00a0for\u00a0specific\u00a0regulations\u00a0to\u00a0ensure\u00a0legal\u00a0certainty\u00a0and\u00a0boost\u00a0the\u00a0sector.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers from\u00a0Agrotecnio, the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and the Faculty of Law at the University of Lleida warn of the urgent need to clearly regulate truffle cultivation in Spain. C\u00e9sar\u00a0Cierco\u00a0Seira, Eduard-Valentin Pavel, Daniel\u00a0Oliach\u00a0Lesan\u00a0and Jos\u00e9 Antonio Bonet\u00a0Lled\u00f3s\u00a0have led the study published in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iustel.com\/v2\/revistas\/detalle_revista.asp?id=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Revista General de Derecho Administrativo (General Journal of Administrative Law)<\/a>, in which they point out that the lack of specific regulations could hinder the development of a sector with high economic and strategic value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The article, entitled \u201cThe blurred line between agriculture and forestry: the case of truffle plantations,\u201d analyses the problems of legal uncertainty affecting truffle cultivation,\u00a0mainly due to\u00a0the legal vagueness of the concept of \u2018forest land\u2019 and the blurred line between agricultural and forest land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u201c<em>Without a clear regulatory framework, landowners and investors face uncertainties that hinder decision-making, especially in the case of a crop with high initial investment and longterm returns<\/em>&#8221; explains C\u00e9sar Cierco, professor of Administrative Law at the University of Lleida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent decades, truffle cultivation has established itself as a strategic activity for rural development, offering high economic returns and significant environmental, social and cultural benefits. In addition to diversifying agricultural activity, it contributes to population retention in the region, active landscape management and forest fire prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The cases of\u00a0Italy\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0Valencian\u00a0Community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study analyses the reform of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boe.es\/buscar\/act.php?id=BOE-A-1994-1915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Law 3\/1993 on forestry in the Valencian Community<\/a>, implemented in December 2024, as a significant step towards addressing this issue. This amendment\u00a0establishes\u00a0that truffle cultivation on agricultural land should be considered an agricultural activity rather than a forestry activity. The Valencian regulations also\u00a0establish\u00a0that truffle cultivation on forest land may be temporarily considered agricultural land during the exploitation period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite positively assessing the efforts of the Valencian legislature, the researchers warn that this solution presents legal and conceptual risks, especially in terms of the possible alteration of the basic forest land regime and consistency with the principle of sustainable forest management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study points to the Italian model as a benchmark, as it has a specific national law on truffles that comprehensively regulates production, cultivation, harvesting,\u00a0marketing\u00a0and certification, with a clear distinction between cultivated truffles, truffles controlled in forest environments and wild truffles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Three\u00a0scenarios\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0future\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0sector<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors propose distinguishing between three different realities: truffle cultivation on agricultural land, which should be definitively excluded from the concept of forest or \u2018forest land\u2019; truffle cultivation on forest land, which should be integrated into the logic of sustainable forest management, without losing its status as forest; And finally, wild truffle harvesting, which requires a thorough regulatory update, especially in terms of\u00a0professionalisation, poaching and food marketing guarantees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2018If we want truffles to be a real driver of rural development and environmental sustainability, we must go beyond partial modifications and move towards a specific law for the sector<\/em>,\u2019 says Jos\u00e9 Antonio Bonet, professor of Plant Production at the University of Lleida and director of\u00a0Agrotecnio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0authors\u00a0conclude\u00a0that\u00a0if\u00a0we\u00a0really\u00a0want\u00a0to\u00a0promote\u00a0the\u00a0truffle\u00a0sector as a\u00a0driver\u00a0of\u00a0rural\u00a0development\u00a0and a\u00a0tool\u00a0for\u00a0environmental\u00a0sustainability,\u00a0we\u00a0must\u00a0go\u00a0beyond\u00a0partial\u00a0modifications\u00a0to\u00a0forestry\u00a0legislation\u00a0and\u00a0move\u00a0towards\u00a0a\u00a0specific\u00a0law\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0truffle\u00a0sector. A\u00a0specific\u00a0regulatory\u00a0framework\u00a0would\u00a0provide\u00a0legal\u00a0certainty,\u00a0regulatory\u00a0consistency\u00a0and\u00a0institutional\u00a0recognitio for\u00a0an\u00a0activity\u00a0with\u00a0enormous\u00a0strategic\u00a0potential\u00a0for\u00a0rural\u00a0areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers from\u00a0Agrotecnio, the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and the Faculty of Law at the University of Lleida warn of the urgent need to clearly regulate truffle cultivation in Spain. C\u00e9sar\u00a0Cierco\u00a0Seira, Eduard-Valentin Pavel, Daniel\u00a0Oliach\u00a0Lesan\u00a0and Jos\u00e9 Antonio Bonet\u00a0Lled\u00f3s\u00a0have led the study published in the\u00a0Revista General de Derecho Administrativo (General Journal of Administrative Law), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5357,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354\/revisions\/5357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}