How to Become a Shiitake Mushroom Farmer

shiitake mushroom

When you think of mushrooms, three main kinds probably come to mind: the oyster, the baby bell, and the shiitake mushroom. The latter of these three, shiitake, are not only delicious and packed-full of protein, but are widely sought out by chefs and natural medicine practitioners alike.

This demand for the shiitake mushroom is one reason so many have begun farming this fungi. The other? They are incredibly easy to grow. If you’re interested in becoming a mushroom farmer, shiitake mushrooms are one of the easiest and most profitable places to start.

The following is an excerpt from Farming the Woods by Steve Gabriel and Ken Mudge. It has been adapted for the web.

(Cover Photo: Freshly harvested log-grown shiitake mushrooms.)

(Photographs courtesy of Steve Gabriel and Ken Mudge unless otherwise noted.)


shiitake mushroom on tree

A beech log that has been “forced” to produce a uniform flush of shiitake mushrooms.

The Stunning Shiitake Mushroom

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is the third most common cultivated mushroom in the world and certainly the best-known forest-grown mushroom in North America. It is a bit ironic that shiitake mushrooms, one of the most important nontimber forest crops used in North American forest farming, is not native to the continent. It is indigenous to Asia and has been cultivated in China since about AD 1100 and later in Japan, where the value has primarily been placed on its medicinal properties. A paper published in 1982 by Gary Leatham1 was instrumental in popularizing shiitake cultivation in the United States. Today a half dozen spawn producers exist, but the number of growers is quickly on the rise.

In addition to their delicious taste, shiitake boast a number of positive nutritional and medicinal qualities.2,3 The proteins contained in shiitake have an amino acid profile similar to the “ideal protein” for humans. These mushrooms are one of the best sources of protein, especially for vegetarians/vegans looking to eliminate animal proteins in their diet. Multiple studies conducted over the last ten years have demonstrated that an active component in shiitake called eritadenine “significantly decreased the plasma total cholesterol concentration, irrespective of dietary fat sources . . .” Shiitake mushrooms are considered a good source of three B vitamins (B2, B5, and B6); a very good source of six trace minerals (manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, copper, and zinc); and a notable source of magnesium and vitamin D.

Another documented health benefit of shiitake mushrooms is as a supporter of the immune system. Shiitake also contains the polysaccharide lentinan, a (1-3) ß-D-glucan, which is associated with cancer prevention properties of this mushroom.

Producers of forest-cultivated shiitake mushrooms range in size from “hobby” scale (<200 logs), part-time commercial (500 to 1,000 logs), all the way up to fulltime commercial (>5,000 logs). Few of these producers bother to produce their own spawn for log inoculation; instead they rely on companies that specialize in spawn production and also sell a wide range of mushroom-related supplies. According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS, 2013), in 2011–2012 there were 151,000 natural wood logs in outdoor shiitake production, whereas in 2012–2013 the number of logs dropped to 137,000. It should also be noted that several experienced growers, and a major supplier of spawn to mushroom growers all over the United States, regard these shiitake-related NASS statistics to be unreliable because they believe most growers do not fill out the annual surveys sent to them by NASS, which may be the reason for the drop in the numbers. By all indications “on the ground” (attendance at Extension events, sales at spawn producers, involvement in grower groups), log-base shiitake production is well on the rise.

indoor shiitake mushroom growing

Shiitake mushrooms grown indoors on artificial sawdust “logs.”

For beginning farmers shiitake is perhaps one of the best candidates as a niche crop, at least in the northeastern United States.

The markets are more or less wide open, with consumers and chefs eager to get their hands on this tasty and nutritious food. Shiitake can be easily sold at farmers’ markets, to restaurants, and through CSA models for $11 (wholesale) to $16 (retail) a pound. A beginner can start with 300 logs, which yield roughly 10 pounds a week, or $120 to $160 of sales, and add more logs until he is satisfied. The cost to inoculate each log is $1.50 to $3.00, which pales in comparison to the $50 to $60 of sales per log that will be gained over its lifetime. And other than drying out, the crop is forgiving of changing weather conditions, floods and droughts, and even the farmer’s desire to take a vacation.


If You Go Hunting for Wild Mushrooms…

Advice from the mushroomforager.com bloggers Ari Rockland-Miller and Jenna Antonino DiMare

Many Americans are mycophobic, or intimidated by the prospect of hunting wild mushrooms. Yet wildcrafting can be accessible, safe, and abundant if you approach it with patience and intention. Even though this book is not focused on wildcrafting topics, we thought it would still be important to include some brief tips on foraging from our friends at The Mushroom Forager. This is their guide to a safe, fruitful, and renewable harvest:

  1. Start by learning your region’s most deadly species. Wildcrafting can be extremely safe if you are responsible, but the stakes are too high to take risks. For example, the destroying angel (Amanita bisporigera) is one of the first mushrooms you should learn. This ubiquitous deadly mushroom is so white that it almost glows, bearing an uncanny and unsettling resemblance to the common button mushroom.
  2. Next, begin learning the edible species one at a time, starting with the most foolproof. Instead of trying to learn every species in the forest, which is a worthwhile but daunting task, start by learning distinctive and delicious species such as the giant puffball, lion’s mane, and chicken of the woods. Each season, learn additional species that you can confidently identify.
  3. growing shiitake mushroom

    A Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) mushrooms fruiting prolifically on an old oak log at the MacDaniels Nut Grove. The shelf form and bright orange and yellow cover make this one of the easier wild mushrooms to identify.

    Know the ForageCast! The Mushroom Forager (www.themushroom forager.com) publishes a list of the most distinctive and delicious species in season in the Northeastern United States, updating the list often during the wild mushroom season based on reader feedback and reports from the region’s fields and forests. Random, haphazard foraging is fun but often fruitless. Make your foray targeted, using the ForageCast, so you know when, how, and where to look for your favorite edibles.

  4. The first time you try a new species, have a mushroom or plant expert verify your ID. Always be 100 percent confident of your ID before taking a bite. Be sure to identify in the field, so you don’t miss crucial ID characteristics, such as the presence of a volva—the often subsoil swollen base that is common in the infamous Amanita genus of fungi. Even if you are positive about the ID, try a small portion the first time.
  5. Never mix known edibles with unknowns in your basket. When you arrive home, eager to cook up your bounty, a poisonous species may fall into the frying pan along with the edibles.
  6. Check back on known producing spots every year. Soon you will have more spots than you have time to check on and may have to freeze, dehydrate, can, or pickle the surplus. Many gourmet and medicinal mushrooms will fruit in the same spots every year, but even the most reliable, hen-of-the-woods (Grifola frondosa), will rest every few seasons. Eventually, you will develop an intuitive sense for when your favorite species fruit based on temperature and rainfall.

Notes

  1. Leatham, G.F. 1982. Cultivation of shiitake, the Japanese forest mushroom on logs: A potential industry for the United States. Forest Products Journal. 32:29–35.
  2. Hobbs, C. 1995. Medicinal mushrooms: an exploration of tradition, healing & culture. No. Ed. 2. Botanica Press, Santa Cruz, Calif.
  3. USDA SR-21. Conde Nast, 2014 Nutrition facts and analysis for mushrooms, shiitake, cooked, without salt. 5 January 2014. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts /vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2488/2.

Recommended Reads

Mushroom Adventures: Composting and Recycling

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Garage or Yard

Read The Book

Farming the Woods

An Integrated Permaculture Approach to Growing Food and Medicinals in Temperate Forests

$25.97

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