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= Garland Truffles =

North American Truffle Cultivation History
Garland Gourmet Mushrooms and Truffles produced the first commercial crop of Périgord truffles in the North America in 1992. Dr. James Trappe is a renowned mycologist who verified that root samples taken from Franklin Garland’s truffle orchard contained Tuber melanosporum, which occurred between December 1994 and March 1995. Franklin Garland is the founder and president of Garland Truffles and he pioneered truffle farming in North America by helping thousands of customers launch truffle farms.

Franklin Garland
Franklin is the founder and President of Garland Truffles, Inc. (formerly Garland Gourmet Mushrooms and Truffles). Mycology circles throughout North America often refer to Franklin as The Truffle Tzar because he was the first person to cultivate Périgord truffles in the Western Hemisphere successfully. Additionally, the North American Truffle Growers Association (NATGA) named Garland the founding father of the truffle industry in the Americas. Numerous news outlets, scientific publications, and television segments have featured Garland since 1992 when his truffle career began showing success. His greatest technological achievement to date is developing the Garland Method for Producing Truffles.

Company History
Garland Gourmet Mushrooms mostly grew shiitake mushrooms that sold to fine dining restaurants in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Garland’s first truffle orchard consisted of 500 filbert trees and took roughly 12 years to produce truffles, which he discovered after inviting Duke University mycology students and Triangle Mushroom Club members for a truffle-foraging foray. The company shorty changed its name to Garland Gourmet Mushrooms & Truffles.

Corporate Social Responsibility
Garland Truffles introduced the concept that Périgord truffles and other truffles as a potential replacement crop for tobacco farms starting in 1998. The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission gave Garland Truffles a grant worth $235,000 in 2004, which funded an initiative to supply fifty farmers with 200 truffle-inoculated trees apiece and provide technical consultation. Garland Truffles’ staff helped found NATGA and they held some of the original executive positions at the organization. Garland Truffles launched the premiere Annual Truffle Fest that involved renowned chefs, such as Carlos Cordon, Jim Anile, Todd Gray, Phillip Ponticelli, and Walter Royal. SG Séguret currently runs The Asheville Truffle Experience, which was adapted from the Annual Truffle Fest.

North Carolina State Cooperative Extension
In the spring of 2009, Garland Truffles donated saplings inoculated with truffles to Dr. Jeanine Davis of North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, NC. She led a project to demonstrate and test the research potential of truffles at an orchard in Waynesville, NC. Her research centers on helping farmers enhance the profitability and sustainability of farms by acquainting them with alternative crops and production methods. She coauthored an article titled Persistence of Tuber melanosporum in truffle orchards in North Carolina, USA in Mycorrhiza and received a Carolina Specialty Crop Block grant for improving North Carolina black truffle production. Currently, Dr. Davis’ team is attempting to develop a cost-effective, practical, and reliable process to verify the presence of specific truffle species that farmers are trying to grow.

Publicity
Celebrities, such as Emeril Lagasse, Martha Stewart in Martha Stewart Living in 2007, and David Letterman in the Late Show with David Letterman in 2000, promoted Garland Truffles and its products. Some magazines that covered Garland Truffles include AgVentures, Fortune Small Business, Gourmet, Mushroom News, The Furrow, Uptown Magazine, and W Magazine. News outlets have covered Garland Truffles frequently, which include the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications.