containers of specialty mushrooms displayed at farmers market

Specialty Mushrooms

Project Lead: Connor Youngerman, Yolanda Gonzalez

Our project offers the leading extension resource for specialty mushroom cultivation on small farms in the United States.

Specialty mushrooms are defined by USDA as any species not belonging to the genus Agaricus (button, crimini, portabella). The most common specialty mushrooms produced are Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) and Oyster (Pleuterous ostreatus). Scroll down for our library of resources to help you grow better!

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Kacey Deamer / Cornell Small Farms Program

Demand for specialty mushrooms is rapidly rising, as consumers look to purchase more foods that are healthy, nutritious, and medicinal. There are methods to grow mushrooms outdoor systems on logs, stumps, and in beds, as well as indoor production techniques that can occur in a wide range of spaces on straw, sawdust, and other agricultural materials.

For urban growers, mushrooms offer a high value niche crop that can be grown in small spaces. For rural growers, the farm woodlot can be better utilized and healthy forests maintained while procuring materials for production.

Building a viable mushroom enterprise requires learning two skills; technical production and business planning. We help you develop both to meet your goals for production through factsheets and articles, guidebooks, videos, and opportunities to connect with other growers, industry suppliers, and more.

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Mushroom Resources

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Events

Events

Today

  • Starting Shiitake Mushrooms

    Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County 377 Schroon River Road, Warrensburg, NY, United States

    Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County will be holding a “Starting Shiitake Mushrooms” workshop on Friday, July 10, at 3:00 pm. This program is perfect for the very beginner as well as the enthusiast who might want to learn other techniques of raising shiitake mushrooms. There will be a limited number of bolts available for […]

    $20

  • Spawn, Seedlings, and Silvopasture: Agroforestry at Dilmun Hill 

    Dilmun Hill Farm 705 Dryden Rd, Ithaca, United States

    Join us at the Dilmun Hill Student Farm for a field tour of our expanding agroforestry practices. We will walk and talk as we tour our pawpaw orchard with sheep grazing, air pruned raised beds for growing tree seedlings, and log-grown mushroom projects. Hear invited speakers from Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Cornell Small Farms Program, […]

News and Updates

  • Video Series Shows How Farmers Can Profit From Forests

    by

    Kacey Deamer

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    New York farmers are completing business plans for their woodlots, with the assistance of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County and a grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute. Woodlot owners can use forest enterprises and products to supplement their income, and thanks to this grant CCE Chenango has been able to reach more…

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  • Attention Educators & Service Providers: Let’s Talk Mushrooms

    by

    Kacey Deamer

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    Did you know that the Cornell Small Farms Program has been offering specialty mushroom resources and extension education for 10 years? This has occurred through our website, online courses, and in-person workshops. Now we need your help to continue this important work. To all extension/university or non-profit educators, government agency employees, and private consultants — please complete…

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  • Calling Specialty Mushroom Growers: Please Complete Survey on 2017 Harvest

    by

    Carli Fraccarolli

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    The Cornell Small Farms Program is seeking farmers who have grown and sold specialty mushrooms commercially during 2017 in the states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania to respond to a survey about their harvest numbers, sales, and marketing strategies. The goal in collecting this information on an…

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  • Agroforestry in Practice: a 3-day training for Service Providers

    by

    Steve Gabriel

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    Agroforestry in Practice: 3-day training for Service Providers October 17, 18, and 19, 2017 Montour Falls, NY at the Schuyler County Cooperative Extension Agroforestry is the science and art of combining trees and forests with crop production. It is a topic of great interest to many landowners and farmers and offers many promising enterprises including…

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  • CCE Chenango Begins Work on Statewide Value Added Forest Products Initiative

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    Tara Hammonds

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    Farmers and woodland owners have opportunities to generate income from their woodlands. by Rich Taber CCE Chenango has received a grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute “Increased Farm Viability and Diversification through Value Added Forest Products”.  The impetus for this project was due to the fact that 66% of New York Farms (23,576)…

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See the full archive from Cornell Mushrooms

Project Partners

The Cornell Small Farms Program, with support from USDA-NIFA and USDA-SARE and alongside partners CCE Harvest NY, Fungi Ally, Farm School NYC, Just Food, and GrowNYC are engaged in a multi-year project to elevate and support diverse mushroom growers in the Northeast region. We are here to help! See our resources at this website, and get in touch.

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Farm NYC School
Fungi Ally
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About Connor Youngerman

As the Agroforestry and Mushroom Specialist, Connor applies his skills and experience toward climate resiliency outreach for new, established, and historically excluded farmers. His particular interests lie in advancing research and education for agroforestry and tree nursery management, medicinal agroforestry crops, and novel mushroom substrates. He believes these areas hold huge potential to diversify the ecological and economic portfolio of small-scale farmers.

Read Articles by Connor Youngerman

containers of specialty mushrooms displayed at farmers market
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This list-serve provides information and resources to connect small and mid-sized farmers to larger markets such as food hubs, grocery stores, restaurants, online marketplaces and cooperatives. Farmers, educators and prospective buyers are all welcome:

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