Ag Opportunities Volume 16, Number 6 December 2005 Cultivating Shiitake Mushrooms through Forest Farming By Rachel McCoy Senior Information Specialist MU Center for Agroforesty Cultivating shiitake mushrooms allows forest landowners an opportunity to utilize low-grade and small diameter trees thinned from their woodlots. When the mushrooms are harvested and marketed, the result is a short-term payback for long-term management of wooded areas. Shiitake mushroom cultivation requires a significant amount of shade, but not a significant amount of acreage, and therefore is an excellent opportunity for landowners with smaller acreages to utilize forested or shaded areas. In addition to making use of woodlots and forested acres, logs that have been inoculated for shiitake production (or "spent" logs) can be recycled compost or used as a fuel and heat source for winter mushroom production. Shiitake mushrooms can be grown indoors or outdoors, usually on sugar maple or oak logs that have been specially cut and inoculated. When these logs are grown outdoors in a managed shade environment, a forest farming practice is utilized. The practice of intentionally managing the light or shade levels in a forest to favor the production of certain plants is a key element of the agroforestry practice known as forest farming. Properly applied to the forest environment, the forest farming practice can enhance and diversify farm income opportunities, while at the same time making significant improvements to the composition and structure of the forest for long term improvements in overall stand health, quality and economic value. By developing an understanding of the interactions between the overstory trees and the understory environment, forest management activities can be used to create an understory capable of growing profitable shade-loving crops like shiitake mushrooms. Both long term tree crops and short term understory crops can be grown on the same forested land and create a healthier forest environment. Thinning a Forested Area for Mushroom Cultivation In managing a forest for shade and forest health, thinnings should focus on tree species that are best adapted to site conditions, and manage those so that their spacing produces the desirable shade level. The US Forest Service web site, www.na.fs.us./spfo/pubr/silvics_manual/ offers information on optimum site conditions for most all North American tree species. One approach to thinning existing forests for mushroom production is to mark (or otherwise identify) the trees that are site appropriate and healthy. In this case, these marked trees are identified to remain in the forest and all other trees may then be removed as needed to crate a desirable level of shade. The crown of healthy trees will have full leaves (not wilted) and you will not see many dead branches. A tree with more than 30% dead branches in its crown indicates the tree is not growing vigorously and may be susceptible to disease and drought. After marking healthy trees you wish to remain in the forest, you may begin the thinning process. For a detailed explanation of the tree thinning process and methods, print or request a copy of the document "Forest Management for Landowners" from the MO Dept of Conservation online at www.mdc.mo.gov/forest/library/. The Shiitake Life Cycle Mushrooms do not use chlorophyll to produce their own food, but instead rely on other plant material (substrates) for nourishment. The visible part of the fungus that is harvested and consumed is the fruiting body (mushroom), connected to an unseen mycelium consisting of tiny threads growing in the substrate. The mycelium breaks down organic material and collects nutrients. A portion of the nutrients derived from the substrate by the mycelium is used to produce additional mushrooms. Only healthy, living logs should be used. Logs already dead will be infected by other fungi and must be avoided. Logs cut from healthy trees are inoculated with shiitake spawn, via holes drilled into the substrate logs. Shiitake spawn is sawdust amended with nutrients and colonized by mycelium in the laboratory. Spawn of many shiitake strains is readily available commercially. A thread-like network of mycelium grows from the spawn into the inoculated log. The period of time required for mycelium to colonize the log is called the "spawn run," which requires several months. For example, logs inoculated in May will not begin to fruit until September, at the earliest. The first major crop of mushrooms can be expected the following spring when air temperature exceeds 50 degrees during the day time. Once a log has produced a crop (called a "flush") of mushrooms, the log needs to "rest" for approximately 10 weeks to provide the mycelium time to replenish the energy required for fruiting. The timing of mushroom production in nature depends on the timing of precipitation. In order to control the timing of fruiting, growers can "force" logs to fruit by submerging them in water for 20 hours. Basic Steps for Shiitake Production There are several steps involved in shiitake production, and the process usually takes from 4 to 12 months (from inoculation to first fruiting): *Choose healthy trees and cut the logs, usually as part of a thinning process for a timber stand improvement, or utilizing top wood from a commercial harvest. Good hosts are hardwood species with long bark retention (sugar maple and white oaks are among the best). If you do not have access to forested areas, purchase logs from a public land management agency or a contract logger. *Purchase spawn from a reputable commercial vendor. High-quality spawn of known strains is well worth the price. *Inoculate the logs using a very high-speed drill to produce holes approximately 1" deep, separated by 6" in rows 2" apart and staggered to produce a diamond pattern. Using a spring-loaded thumb pressure inoculation tool, inject sawdust spawn into pre-drilled holes. *Cover the spawn in the log using a dauber dipped in smoking hot cheese wax. *Set logs aside in the shade for spawn run. *When logs begin to fruit well spontaneously (the following spring) they can be soaked or irrigated with water and a forcing routine can be established on a 10 week cycle. Harvest mushrooms by twisting and pulling the stem off of the log. Cutting the stem will shorten the shelf-life by causing the mushroom to dry out through the cut stem. Leaving the stem in the woods will cause insect pest problems. *Harvest mushrooms by twisting and pulling the stem off of the log. Cutting the stem will shorten the shelf-life by causing the mushroom to dry out through the cut stem. Leaving the stem in the woods will cause insect pest problems. Checklist of Supplies for Shiitake Cultivation *Access to water for force fruiting. *A cultivation area with modest shade and protection from wind. *Hardwood logs cut from healthy saplings or pole-size trees, or from tops of larger trees. *Spawn and plunging tool: (Spawn and the following supplies can be purchased from professional supplier.) *Cheese wax: For sealing spawn. *Daubers: For applying cheese wax. *Very high speed drill, available from professional suppliers. If you only purchase one piece of equipment, it should be the highest speed drill you can find. *Appropriate drill bits. Prices and Marketing Strategies Many landowners fail at non-timber forest production by overlooking the importance of marketing research. Prior to beginning a specialty mushroom operation, investigate the possible markets in your area and know the price range you may encounter. Does the retail price compensate for the materials that will be needed? You should take the time to learn who your potential buyers are and what prices they are willing to pay. It is also helpful to learn how your local grocers place and price specialty mushrooms in the store, interview other growers and observe consumers purchasing mushrooms. Visit farmers’ markets to see if they are being sold there, to whom and at what price. Contact restaurants to determine if they are interested in offering dishes prepared with fresh mushrooms on the menu. Don’t forget about the market opportunities for mail order or Internet sales. Value added products, like boxed mixes, sauces and dried mushrooms are another option. In all markets, the relationship you establish with your buyer is critical. Be certain you have the production capacity before arranging an order. Remain in close contact with the buyer to ensure they have received the quality they were seeking. Consumer education is also critical - prepare a pamphlet for your buyer telling them about the careful steps you take in production and ways to keep the mushrooms fresh in storage. Ozark Forest Mushrooms competes in the niche market for organic products by not using any artificial fertilizers or herbicides in the growing and packaging process, demonstrated by the USDA organic logo Ozark Forest Mushrooms proprietors Dan Hellmuth and Nicola McPherson obtained through the MO Dept of Ag. Consumer education is another invaluable aspect of a successful mushroom business. McPherson gives customers a flier telling the story of their operation, their local employees and the growing process. As an effort to reinforce the connection between customers and locally-grown foods, Ozark Forest Mushrooms has become part of a chef’s collaborative to promote local farms and local foods to area restaurants. "Cross-marketing with other locally grown foods in the area helps build the name recognition and connection to the food and land customers seek," she said. Keep in mind that the better the quality of mushroom you produce, the higher the price you can achieve. The best prices are obtained through restaurateurs. It is not uncommon to achieve a price of $10 to $15 per pound for fresh, high-quality shiitakes sold to a restaurant. The lower prices you may observe at supermarkets may reflect the lesser-quality mushrooms growers are unable to sell to restaurants or at farmers’ markets. Additional markets include catering companies and organic food stores. Ozark Forest Mushrooms refrigerates its mushrooms within one hour of picking to retain optimum freshness and quality, and then ships directly or delivers to customers. "If you’re trying to manage your market, you want to have a constant supply of mushrooms every week. Your customers expect that," said McPherson. Harvested mushrooms should be taken to market as quickly as possible following harvest. While shiitake have a good shelf life compared to other mushrooms (two weeks or more) their quality begins to deteriorate slowly after they are harvested, therefore, a better price will be obtained for the freshest mushrooms. The best price is obtained through retail sales to restaurants. Fresh mushrooms should be stored in well-ventilated, humid cartons like paper bags or cardboard cartons. Success Story One of the Midwest’s most significant demonstrations of a successful forest farming practice is Ozark Forest Mushrooms near Timber, Mo. Dan Hellmuth and Nicola McPherson established the specialty mushroom operation in 1990 on what was then a timber operation, and together with a small staff, coordinate every step of the value-added process, from the inoculated log to packaged, consumer-friendly, organic mushroom products. A key to their success is developing an agroforestry practice that works within the natural setting of the land. Under the guidelines of the Stewardship Incentive Program, administered by the MO Dept of Conservation, the couple harvests a renewable supply of mushroom bed logs while simultaneously maintaining their forested acres in a healthy ecological state. Consequently, what began 14 years ago with only 100 oak logs in production has grown to include 16,000 shiitake logs in production. Only five acres of the couple’s 2,500 forested acres are utilized for the mushroom business. Ozark Forest Mushrooms gives particular emphasis to targeted marketing of their value-added boxed mixes and products. "The biggest marketing challenge for a rural area is that most of the mushrooms are a fairly high value specialty food, and the largest market is in some of the state’s bigger cities," said Hellmuth. "We are marketing products to St. Louis and need to deliver them to the city on a weekly basis - but when I walk into a restaurant and see my mushrooms on the menu, that gives me huge pleasure and makes all the work worthwhile." Specialty Mushroom Workshop Feb. 17-18, 2006 Columbia, Mo Who Should Attend? Anyone interested in learning the basics of production and/or marketing techniques for specialty gourmet mushrooms including shiitake, oyster, Stropharia and truffles. Univ of MO research faculty members, professional mushroom growers and marketers and will provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to get started with growing and marketing mushrooms. Exhibitors from the industry will be on hand to provide information about mushroom production supplies and establishing successful markets. A hands-on tour of the mushroom cultivation sites at the Univ of MO Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center will feature demonstrations of steps involved in growing mushrooms. Registration is limited to 60 participants. Please send in your form and payment early to ensure your attendance at this workshop. Early registration fee postmarked before Feb. 13: $89 Registration fee postmarked after Feb. 13 and walk-ins: $99 For more information, visit www.centerforagroforestry.org, or call Julie Rhoads at 573-882-3234 or rhoadsj@missouri.edu. *** In Print/On-Line *** *Garden Mosaics: Program Manual* is an educational, activity based, youth project/curriculum guide - whose scope begins just beyond basic gardening, and extends to and integrates science with intergenerational mentoring, cultural understanding, and community action and sustainability is available from Cornell University at 607-255-2080. *Food Safety Begins on the Farm: A Grower’s Guide* This online guide provides farmers with food safety tips. As it is difficult to completely sanitize produce once contamination has occurred, the key to reducing risks is preventing contamination before it happens. www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/pubs/articles/foodsafetybeginsonthefarm.pdf *The Fate of Family Farming: Variations on an American Idea* by Ronald Jager. Explores the history and future of US family farming the agrarian values on which it’s based--the fundamental good of nature, local communities, and simple living. $17.95. To order, contact University Press of New England, Order Dept, 37 Lafayette Street, Lebanon, NH 03766, 800-421-1561, www.upne.com. *Soil Quality: Managing Soil for Today and Tomorrow* USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/ *** IN THE NEWS *** On Aug 28, 2005, the MO Dept of Ag began inspecting llama, alpaca and buffalo. This change came with the signing of Senate Bill 355, which defines these species as “livestock” as it pertains to meat. For more info, call 573-522-1242 or 573-751-3377 or go to http://www.mda.mo.gov/Animals/mmpip.htm An article in the November 2005 issue of Audubon provides an overview of the six main conservation programs funded through the farm bill, and discusses how important good land management practices on working lands are for restoring endangered species. The feature article also profiles farmers and ranchers who are concerned about wildlife and enrolled in one of the federal conservation programs. The profiles include a grass-fed beef producer, a partnership of private landowners, a lumber retailer, and a prairie seed producer. http://magazine.audubon.org/features0511/workingLands.html MO does not require landowners to have third party certification associated with the sale of wood from their forest land. However, certification may be appealing to many landowners as a marketing tool that may increase the value of harvested wood. For additional reference on the guidelines and requirements associated with certifying your forests and their sustainable management, visit any of the following websites: www.treefarmsystem.org www.aboutsfi.org/core.asp www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood/ www.fscus.org www.csa-international.org/testing_certification_us www.merid.org/comparison www.maineenvironment.org/nwoods/FSC_SFI_comparison.htm (Green Horizons, Fall 2005) The well-tested and superior potato Defender is the only commercial variety in the US whose leaves and tubers are resistant to Phytophthora infestans. This fungas-like organism is what causes late blight, one of the world’s worst potato diseases. Defender’s natural resistance allows growers to reduce or eliminate applications, making it ideal for either conventional or organic production. Scientists’ scrutinized Defender’s performance in test fields from Maine to Washington and from Idaho to Texas. It produced high yields oblong, white-skinned potatoes for fresh consumption. Processors also evaluated its suitability for French fry production and found its starch/sugar proportions suitable for making into frozen potato products. For more info call Richard G Novy, USDA-ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Laboratory, 208-397-4181. (Agricultural Research, Nov 2005) *** ON THE CALENDAR *** Dec 2-3 - 2005 MO Livestock Symposium, Kirksville, MO. Call 660-665-9866, http://missourilivestock.com Dec 3- Missouri Sheep Producers Meeting, Kirksville, MO. http://ag.missouristate.edu/msp.htm Dec 3- Rural Life Day, Jefferson City, MO. Call 573-635-9127 x 225. Jan 11-12- 2nd Annual IL Organic Production Conference, Bloomington, IL. Call 217-333-1588, aslant@uiuc.edu January 12- High Tunnels Workshop, St Joseph, MO. Call 816 279-1691, http://extension.missouri.edu/buchanan Jan 12-14- Great Plains Vegetable Conference, St Joseph, MO. Call 573-882-7511. Jan 13-14- MO Aquaculture Assn Annual Meeting and Banquet, Jefferson City, MO. Call 573-526-6666. Jan 13-14- North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Conference and Trade Show, Austin, TX. Call 413-529-0386 or www.nafdma.com Jan 17-19- Illinois Specialty Crops Conference, Springfield, IL. Call 309-557-2107 or handley@ilfb.org Jan 20- From Recipe to Reality: Understanding the Basics of Starting a Food Business, Lincoln, NE. Call 402-472-2832. Jan 21- MO Christmas Tree Association Meeting, Jefferson City. Call 573-243-5501. Feb 3-4- MO Nut Growers Association Nut Show & Annual Meeting, Nevada, MO. Call 417-436-2351. Feb 4-5- MO Young Farmers/Young Farm Wives Annual State Convention, Lake Ozark, MO. Call 573/751-8467. Feb 17-19- Specialty Mushroom Grower Workshop, Columbia, MO. Call 573-882-3234, www.centerforagroforestry.org Feb 20-22- Missouri Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Springfield, MO. Call 417-547-7500 or mtngrv.missouristate.edu/MSFVC.htm Feb 24-25- Missouri Tree Farm Conference, Columbia, MO. Go to www.moforest.org Feb 25-26- Missouri Equine Council 16th Annual Equine Education Celebration, Columbia, MO. Call 800/313-3327. Feb 25-27- Western Farm Show, Kansas City, MO Feb 28- 22nd Annual Spring Forage Conference. Contact your local SWCD. June 28-30- Grant I Writing Workshop, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485. July 12-14- Grant II Writing Workshop, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485.