Bob Hanson and his wife Kathy started growing gourmet mushrooms three years ago and now grow shiitake, oyster mushrooms, and portobellos. They sell their entire crop at the Fresno Farmer’s Market, where regular customers line up to buy the freshly harvested mushrooms every week.
Hanson, who believes in sustainable agriculture, grows all his mushrooms in his barn, where “high technology” consists of a fan and a 40-watt light bulb. He keeps the operation small-scale, with him and his wife supplying all the labor.
Hanson is fond of his oyster mushrooms because, as he says, “They are so easy to grow.” He mixes spawn with straw and puts the straw in plastic bags with slits. A few weeks later, he has mushrooms.
He’s optimistic about the prospects for small-scale mushroom producers. He knows other growers who sell their fresh gourmet mushrooms to restaurants and local grocers. Says Hanson: “There are a lot of different niches that a person can go into. You can market a good product as long as you grow it.”
According to Dr Philip Miles, a biology professor at the State University of New York, worldwide production has zoomed to meet the increasing demand. “I am convinced that the consumer demand for exotic mushrooms in the U.S. also promises a growing mushroom market in the future,” says Dr. Miles.
It’s hard to consistently find high-quality gourmet mushrooms, such as oysters and shiitake, in most areas. Both have a short shelf life and must stand up better to long-distance shipping – a barrier to large mushroom companies. That’s why small local growers always have the “freshness advantage” with local consumers who want a high-quality product.
Why do consumers like gourmet mushrooms? With the trend to healthier foods, mushrooms fit the bill nicely. Mushrooms are fat-free, cholesterol-free, and pesticide-free and have many medicinal benefits. Consumers are also concerned about food safety, and gourmet mushrooms can be grown without harmful chemicals.
Researchers at the U.S. Forest Products Products Laboratory call gourmet mushrooms ” a promising new industry for the U.S.” They’re an ideal crop because they can be grown on agricultural waste, such as woodlot thinnings and wheat straw, have a low startup cost, and are adaptable to most parts of the country. A big plus for backyard growers is that, unlike regular mushrooms, which use smelly compost, these mushrooms use odor-free growing material.
Oyster mushrooms are fast-growing – ready to harvest in just six to eight weeks – which gives new growers a fast payback on their investment and the flexibility to increase production quickly to meet additional demand.
Oyster mushrooms also produce heavy yields – the average is one pound of mushrooms for each pound of straw used to grow them. Most commercial growers average six “crop cycles” per year, which allows growers to produce lots of mushrooms in a small space. A 200-square-foot growing area, for example, can produce several thousand pounds of mushrooms each year!
Current prices range from a wholesale price of $6 per pound to $12 per pound when selling directly to consumers, such as at restaurants or farmers’ markets. Prices will vary from area to area, but generally, the freshest, local mushrooms always bring top dollar.
Our mushroom-growing guide is now available at Amazon.com. It costs $4.95 for an ebook or $14.95 for a printed copy. Click here to discover more.