I believe without a doubt for most, if not all - a fungi is the way to source it, and feel that this forum has helped dig up some journals that will lead to breakthroughs.
Everything from phosphate levels, sugars, how to mutate, how to culture, alginate beads, to histone acetyltrasferanse inhibitors have been found to improve alkaloid yields and it is with in reach for anyone to get at the very least 500mg per liter of solution, but likely closer to 1 gram. More if one were really determined...

Don't know beans about this topic but saved this article I found the other day with this forum in mind.

Ergot alkaloids: structure diversity, biosynthetic gene clusters and functional
proof of biosynthetic genes

Salat

Look this pdf

In my eyes there are 2 routes: finding an overseas commercial ergot alkaloid hookup, or culturing and extracting claviceps paspali.  Put 10% of the money and effort it would take to find a safe commercial source into finding a culture and learning how to culture paspali.  Can you image what it would be like to be self sufficient and take the sourcing out of the whole process?

bromocryptine and elymoclavine are off the radar and lysergic acid can be made from both but they are both very expensive.

w0rd
so.. as for the crude alks from the fungus, it goes something like: filter, basify, adsorb on bentonite, rinse with water, then elute with acidic methanol, yay?
then alkaline hydrolyze, extract with dcm, and spin down?
does all this have to be done under inert atmosphere? the patent (3,038,840) doesn't specify this

What about the total synthesis of Ergot Alkaloids from L-Tryptophan?


J.  Rebek, Jr.,* D. F. Tai, and Y.-K.  Shue
Contribution f r o m  the Department  of Chemi s t r y ,  University  of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania  15260.  Received  September  19, 198

http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/pdf/ergot-tryptophan.pdf

DUH! man why have we been bothering with anything else!?  Its been right there infront of our eyes the whole time... 

Once Lysergic acid is obtained in a pure form, it is straightforward and simple. But, getting there all depends on the starting point, as jon pointed out.
Thanks for the link everlastingreign.   
Most people who are actually doing this prefer to obtain, albiet costly, the compounds suggested previously by jon, or alternately ergotamine tartrate or the pure amide. Please note that they don't live in the US, and therefore don't have to deal with the same laws.

Total synthesis might be improved on by using the coupling techniques earlier on with other 'chunks' of rings, although iirc it hasn't been attempted.
Most if not all other synthesis either builds rings  or reduces from larger structures, so it would indeed be a novel synthesis worth studying.

Doc you have had the opportunity to do things that most of us will never do.