About

On The Farm is the personal weblog of Gareth Renowden, a New Zealand-based truffle grower and writer. He is the author of The Truffle Book, immediate past president of the New Zealand Truffle Association and trainer of New Zealand’s first champion truffle hound, Peg (her picture occasionally appears as a header). He’s trying to grow three different species of truffle on his small farm in New Zealand’s Waipara Valley, as well as olives, grapes (pinot noir and syrah) and walnuts. When not tending his crops he writes books and magazine articles, specialising in climate change, and gourmet food and its production – and (as often as possible) consumption. He was keynote speaker at the 2007 Oregon Truffle Festival, and has travelled widely in Europe, China and the USA visiting truffle growers and sampling their wares. He aspires to selling New Zealand grown black and white truffles to discerning French and Italian customers, but in the meantime is happy to eat his entire crop.
Gareth’s books include Hot Topic – Global Warming and the Future of New Zealand (AUT Media, 2007), The Truffle Book (Limestone Hills Publishing 2005) which won a Special Jury Award in the 2007 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, and The Olive Book (Canterbury University Press, 1999),. Recent articles include a profile of Annabel Langbein for Food & Wine and articles on truffles and climate change for New Zealand Geographic. He presented a workshop on truffles with Annabel Langbein and Daniele Mazet-Delpeuch at the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in Chicago at Easter 2007. He also runs the Hot Topic blog, which monitors climate news from a NZ perspective.