Many people enjoy the taste of fine wines, fine food and the art of ‘good living’, classic French cooking and finest ingredients sourced from the corners of the world.

Well the demand for one such ingredient is on the brink of causing a global crisis greater than the effects felt by the credit crunch, The Aids threat or the defeat of King Harold II at Hastings…It is up to you to halt it.

“The Decline of The Cornichon Breed of Truffle Hog”

In the deepest wooded folds of Southern France Northern Italy and parts of Europe you’ve never heard of-far away from the tourist traps, the après ski and the sounds of muffled trumpets wafting skyward from cellar jazz bars-you will find truffle hunters.

These men, using skills handed down from many generations of their families, spend their lives, snuffling around in damp woodlands, often badly paid and wearing nothing but a leather jerkin, in search of one of the most valuable treasures known to man-just so you can liberally shave these slivers of exclusivity upon your wild mushroom risotto or Sunday evening scrambled eggs.

Now, it is not only the welfare of these people at risk, but the welfare and indeed the future of their most crucial tool for the hunt,-The Cornichon Truffle Hog. Since the dawn of time, when a truffle hunter ventured out for another days work, all that would accompany him would be his shovel, his jerkin and his faithful hog-hence the well known European saying “One Man and his Hog”

Gifted with a sense of smell finer than a whale, the hog is able to sniff out a fresh Perigord truffle at thirty paces, dig it up and deliver it to his master.

Without the truffle hog, the entire economies of Europe risk collapsing before our eyes, we only need to look at the current turmoil in Greece to see that this problem, far from being just a worry, is a very real threat now and we must act fast.

The lack of funding for a successful breeding program for The Cornichon Truffle Hog breed is causing the entire industry to wither and die

We are now staring down the barrels of destitution!

Using Greece as an example I will illustrate the dangers the world faces, if funding is not found.

The economies of Europe are entirely founded on the trade of agricultural commodities, for example mud, spuds and large amounts of unrefined crud, there is no such thing as a financial commodity, a stock, gilt or a government bond for example, these advances are yet to reach these lands, people just shuffle around, willy nilly, wearing jerkins.

Greece’s economy was entirely reliant on the truffle trade for survival and because of the lack of hogs, fewer and fewer truffles were found, resulting in Greece’s export revenue declining, resulting in panic, economic meltdown and fighting in the streets.

With your help, we can make a difference!

Help for Hogs is asking you to donate whatever you can afford to help the cause.

Together we can make a difference, get the truffle hunters back in the woods, put the hog’s backs back in the woods, put the jerkins bank onto the backs of workers backs and back onto the road back to global economic success.

Give a man a jerkin and he’ll potter about in it.

Give a man a shovel and he’ll dig about a bit.

But give a man a Cornichon truffle hog and he’ll re-float the economies of Europe.

Thank you.

The Hunting Ground is very excited about Badminton this year. Lets hope all the riders and officials can make it ! Don’t forget to get some serious shopping in, lots of our retailers will be there. And lots will have new collections to launch, watch this space for fantastic Hunting Ground Subscribers early bird offers from some of the finest names in the business.

CLA encourages BT to upgrade current broadband infrastructure

The CLA today (9 February 2010) welcomed BT’s announcement to open up its underground duct routes for sharing with other infrastructure providers to extend high-speed broadband coverage.

The rural economy experts said that any opening of the market to encourage competition would be beneficial to all. However, the Association said BT should bring the rest of the infrastructure up to speed first before rolling out a shared underground duct network.
CLA president William Worsley said: “We are certainly pleased that the infrastructure providers have recognised the importance of superfast broadband to the economy. They must also accept that this fundamental service is needed equally in urban and rural areas.”

He added: “With 20 percent of rural England and Wales still without access to effective and adequate broadband, infrastructure providers must take one step at a time to ensure the basics are in place. The vast majority of the current infrastructure must be brought up to scratch before superfast broadband can even be contemplated.”

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