{"id":24743,"date":"2020-04-28T06:18:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T10:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smallfarms.cornell.edu\/?page_id=24743"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T18:57:21","slug":"using-mushrooms-to-solve-community-challenges","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/smallfarms.cornell.edu\/es\/recursos\/specialty-mushroom-cultivation\/using-mushrooms-to-solve-community-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"5. Using Mushrooms to Solve Community Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

5. Using Mushrooms to Solve Community Challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mushrooms, as an organism, as well as in the context of production for sales or sustenance, offer several unique qualities that leave them poised them to solve a range of community challenges in both rural and urban settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNutritious Food and Medicine <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many communities face malnutrition and lack access to healthy foods. According to the USDA-ERS, 11.8 percent (15 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2017. Communities of color are twice as likely to be food insecure, as compared to white households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mushrooms are often underappreciated for their substantial nutritional and medicinal qualities. They are an important source of protein that is naturallyhigh in Vitamin D, potassium, magnesium, and many other nutrients. Mushrooms also contain all the essential amino acids. Extracts from common mushrooms are among some of the most powerful medicines, supporting a healthy immune system, lowering cholesterol, and fighting cancer cell development, among a long list of other medical attributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mushroom cultivation, which can be done in small and repurposed spaces, offers great opportunities for individuals and communities to address food security issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nProduction Systems are Low-Tech, Easy to Set Up, and Flexible\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unlike many food crops, little or no land is needed to grow mushrooms. They could be grown in a closet. The space needs to be kept at a consistent temperature (65 – 70 degrees) and high relative humidity. It also needs to be able to be cleaned periodically. That’s about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are growing mushrooms in cities and in rural communities. They are growing them in converted buildings, shipping containers, basements, spare bedrooms, and hoop houses. You can start small, and scale up if desired. One could produce as much as 1 pound of mushrooms per square foot of space, per week, in a well-managed space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the flexibility and low cost of setting up production systems, along with the main raw input of low cost \u00abwaste\u00bb materials, the cost to start an operation is low, while prices for specialty mushrooms are high. For instance, ten pounds of a mixture might cost $1 – 10 to inoculate and should yield 5 – 10 lbs of mushrooms, which can be sold at a retail price of $10 – $12, yielding $49 – $120 worth of product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nRecycle Local Waste Streams <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mushrooms (especially oyster) will consume almost anything that is high in carbon. Straw, sawdust, coffee grounds, shredded paper, grain hulls, wood, and even denim and cotton are all possible. Typically, oysters are grown on straw or sawdust mixture, and others like shiitake and lions mane do best on sawdust with nutritional supplements high in nitrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sawdust is a waste product of the forest and woodworking industries, and the supplemental material can be a wide range of local agricultural wastes, from soybean and cottonseed hulls, to coffee grounds or waste brewery grain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-production mushroom substrates retain high value and can make excellent compost for community gardens and farms. Spent substrates have also been used as animal feeds, biological water filters, and feedstocks for worm composting systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nLow Carbon Footprint and Enviornmental Impact\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With climate change and environmental degradation often connected back to agriculture, it is remarkable that mushrooms offer one of the lowest environmental footprints when compared to many foods, especially animal proteins. A 2017 study of one third of the US mushroom industry calculated that the production of a pound of mushrooms requires only 1.8 gallons of water (compared to 500+ gallons for beer or 200+ gallons for soy), 1 kwH of energy, and generates only 7 pounds of co2 equivalent. (Note that this study examined only button mushroom operations, but values are likely similar or less for specialty mushrooms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mushrooms are a space and resource efficient way to grow high-quality proteins, especially close to where many people consume them – in cities – where production of other proteins is largely prohibitive due to a lack of land for animals or field crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nSupporting Healthy Soils, Plants, and Forests\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In nature, fungi and mushrooms are very important elements that decompose organic matter, harvest water and minerals from soil, support healthy plant roots, and balance population dynamics. Growers can harness these talents for a range of purposes, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n