\u201cI\u2019ve been involved with the mushroom business for 15 years, and it\u2019s amazing to me to see how much more educated the general public is now,\u201d says Mike Kempenich, owner of the Minnesota-based mushroom-focused business called Gentleman Forager.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve considered mushroom farming, many business outlets exist for you, but\u2014spoiler alert\u2014none is simple.<\/p>\n
Selling Mushrooms at Farmers Markets<\/h2>\n![\"mushrooms](\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/04182210\/mushrooms-fox-03.jpg\")
Amy Fox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe first market that often comes to mind for home-produced items is the farmers’ market. While farmers’ markets are becoming crowded for vegetable producers, there seems to be room for mushroom growers.<\/p>\n
Why Farmers Markets Work for Mushroom Farming<\/h3>\n
\u201cI take great pleasure in being able to provide the public with a variety of mushrooms they might not otherwise have the opportunity to purchase,\u201d says Amy Fox, owner of Fox Farm & Forage in Apex, North Carolina. \u201cI really take delight in educating my customers and absolutely love it when I am able to convert the reluctant or self-proclaimed mushroom hater to a mushroom lover. Weekly repeat customers are confirmation of my goal: to provide a quality product that people enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox Farm & Forage, in its second year of operation mushroom farming, has a presence at three Saturday farmers markets in The Triangle area of North Carolina, a region anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina. That means Fox, her husband and a trusted employee work every Saturday. Finding that trusted employee has been tough.<\/p>\n
Challenges of Selling Mushrooms at Markets<\/h3>\n
\u201cSelling mushrooms is not like selling produce that people are familiar with,\u201d Fox says. \u201cProfits from selling mushrooms directly correlate to being able to engage a potential customer and then having the knowledge to complete the sale. One must be relatively knowledgeable about cooking and be able to make recommendations on which product to use in an indicated culinary application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building Profitable Mushroom Farming Wholesale Accounts<\/h2>\n
Restaurant sales make up the bulk of Fox\u2019s business, as well as grower Steve Sierigk of Trumansburg, New York.<\/p>\n
How to Break into the Wholesale Mushroom Farming Market<\/h3>\n
\u201cShiitake growing and selling can be efficiently done if established accounts are eager for the crop,\u201d Sierigk says. And his accounts at Hawk Meadow Farm are: he sells about 1,000 pounds per year, mostly to restaurants.<\/p>\n![\"mushroom](\"https:\/\/img.hobbyfarms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/04182125\/mushrooms-outdoors-hawk-meadow-farm.jpg\")
Hawk Meadow Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWholesale vs. Farmers Market: Which Is Better?<\/h3>\n
\u201cWhen I compare the amount of profit made versus the time and expense of wholesale versus farmers markets, wholesale is the obvious winner, hands down,\u201d Fox says. \u201cAlso, there is much more room for growth within the wholesale market, whereas farmers markets have a pretty consistent profit ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox points out that this might not be the case in your area, though. Fox will also continue to sell at farmers markets because wholesale accounts don\u2019t let you connect with your customers in the same way that farmers markets do.<\/p>\n
Be aware that in many states, it\u2019s illegal to sell wild-harvested mushrooms to restaurants or wholesale accounts, so check your local state laws.<\/p>\n
Adding Mushrooms to a CSA Program<\/h2>\n
A community-supported-agriculture model\u2014or perhaps a community-supported-fungi model\u2014is less common in the mushroom farming world than in traditional agriculture, but it\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n
How Mushroom CSAs Work<\/h3>\n
In Minneapolis, Kempenich partners with independent grocer Pahl\u2019s Market to offer a mushroom add-on to the market\u2019s vegetable CSA. This is the mushroom CSA\u2019s first year, and 200 people\u201410 percent of the Pahl\u2019s Market\u00a0CSA\u2014purchased a share, which exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n
Considerations Before Starting a Mushroom CSA<\/h3>\n
\u201cWith more education, over time, we\u2019ll continue to see that number grow,\u201d says Kempenich, who has been foraging for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n
He looks at this CSA as a wholesale account for his business because he knows he has a standing order of 200 mushroom units each week. Kempenich cautions that doing this as a stand-alone CSA would be more challenging: \u201cIt would be cost-prohibitive up front until you built a substantial number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, part of the appeal of this CSA model is getting to partner with another independent, locally owned business.<\/p>\n
Using Agritourism to Grow Your Mushroom Brand<\/h2>\n
While mushroom farming includes mushrooms that are cultivated in growth medium in buildings, they can also be cultivated outdoors. Both are interesting to the consumer, and Sierigk capitalizes on this by offering farm tours.<\/p>\n
Hosting Farm Tours to Boost Sales<\/h3>\n
\u201cThe tours are a very different angle on things and require some degree of marketing energy and outlay of cash for advertising and all,\u201d Sierigk says. \u201cFarm tours can become time demanding \u2026 however, we really like connections with people that have generally not been exposed to the type of agriculture that we practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sierigk looks for any opportunity to spend time in the woods\u2014such as leading these tours\u2014and he points out that participants generally make a purchase on the tour, which adds a lot of value.<\/p>\n
Foraging Adventures and Educational Events<\/h3>\n
About four years into his mushroom farming business, Kempenich started leading classes as a break from tending to mushrooms 70 to 80 hours each week. He now runs foraging classes as well as overnight tours through the woods of Minnesota with well-known chefs to forage and then cook mushrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like tying everything together,\u201d Kempenich says. \u201cThe mushrooms go to a great restaurant, so why not bring the chefs to the woods?\u201d By adding this social aspect to forging, he creates more collective mushroom knowledge and also connects more people to the outdoors.<\/p>\n
Selling Medicinal Mushrooms: What to Know<\/h2>\n
There\u2019s an industry of mushrooms used for medicinal research. In biosecure labs and growing facilities, mushroom cultivators and scientists alike experiment and develop products for medicinal industries.<\/p>\n
Regulatory Risks and Selling Restrictions<\/h3>\n
Independently, however, farms that sell tinctures and supplements from their mushrooms have to be much more careful. Scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mushroom growers quietly offering these products. Those who make and sell holistic, health-promoting mushroom products must refrain from making any medical claims and can\u2019t make the products on a large scale.<\/p>\n
Creating Value-Added Products with Mushrooms<\/h2>\n
In any agricultural pursuit, waste occurs. How you handle that \u201cwaste\u201d is up to you. At the OGS Spring Conference, Cotter, who has grown mushrooms commercially since 1994, suggested value-added additions to any mushroom enterprise.<\/p>\n
Dehydrating and Composting for Profit<\/h3>\n
Dehydrate the mushrooms that you don\u2019t sell at the market today so you can sell them later, and offer compost and vermicompost from your scraps. Partner with others to see your mushrooms in prepared foods, beer and other products.<\/p>\n
There are nearly as many ways to profit from mushrooms as there are varieties of mushrooms themselves. None of these enterprise options is a simple, hands-off business, but each has a reward for the mushroom lover.<\/p>\n
Quality vs. Quantity in Mushroom Farming<\/h2>\n
When producing mushrooms indoors, an economy of scale is at work, as you need to build a whole space for cultivation. See \u201cThe Mushroom Gold Rush\u201d on page 62 for more about start-up costs. In these operations, mushroom producers such as Fox Farm & Forage\u2019s Amy Fox say the key is to go big.<\/p>\n
Indoor Growing Requires Scale<\/h3>\n
The directive here is quantity plus quality.<\/p>\n
When using logs and an outdoor setting, Steve Sierigk, co-owner of Hawk Mountain Farm, suggests quality be the initial focus\u2014forget about quantity right now.<\/p>\n
Outdoor Growing Prioritizes Craft and Care<\/h3>\n
\u201cStart modestly, as there are so many variables that need to be right for this to work well,\u201d he says. \u201cI always recommend quality over quantity in all aspects of natural-log mushroom production. It can be as small as about 100 production logs to give a modest weekly supply. In fact, I always recommend starting small to get the knack for handling the logs and all of the demands of the crop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of cultivating this quality is to have some idea of what you\u2019re doing before you get started, in business as well as mushroom production. There are too many variables in the market and in production that can\u2019t be learned just by reading a book. Fox has never hired a consultant, but she had known to do so: \u201cIt would have saved me thousands,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The first market that often comes to mind for home-produced items is the farmers’ market. While farmers’ markets are becoming crowded for vegetable producers, there seems to be room for mushroom growers.<\/p>\n
Why Farmers Markets Work for Mushroom Farming<\/h3>\n
\u201cI take great pleasure in being able to provide the public with a variety of mushrooms they might not otherwise have the opportunity to purchase,\u201d says Amy Fox, owner of Fox Farm & Forage in Apex, North Carolina. \u201cI really take delight in educating my customers and absolutely love it when I am able to convert the reluctant or self-proclaimed mushroom hater to a mushroom lover. Weekly repeat customers are confirmation of my goal: to provide a quality product that people enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox Farm & Forage, in its second year of operation mushroom farming, has a presence at three Saturday farmers markets in The Triangle area of North Carolina, a region anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina. That means Fox, her husband and a trusted employee work every Saturday. Finding that trusted employee has been tough.<\/p>\n
Challenges of Selling Mushrooms at Markets<\/h3>\n
\u201cSelling mushrooms is not like selling produce that people are familiar with,\u201d Fox says. \u201cProfits from selling mushrooms directly correlate to being able to engage a potential customer and then having the knowledge to complete the sale. One must be relatively knowledgeable about cooking and be able to make recommendations on which product to use in an indicated culinary application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building Profitable Mushroom Farming Wholesale Accounts<\/h2>\n
Restaurant sales make up the bulk of Fox\u2019s business, as well as grower Steve Sierigk of Trumansburg, New York.<\/p>\n
How to Break into the Wholesale Mushroom Farming Market<\/h3>\n
\u201cShiitake growing and selling can be efficiently done if established accounts are eager for the crop,\u201d Sierigk says. And his accounts at Hawk Meadow Farm are: he sells about 1,000 pounds per year, mostly to restaurants.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I compare the amount of profit made versus the time and expense of wholesale versus farmers markets, wholesale is the obvious winner, hands down,\u201d Fox says. \u201cAlso, there is much more room for growth within the wholesale market, whereas farmers markets have a pretty consistent profit ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox points out that this might not be the case in your area, though. Fox will also continue to sell at farmers markets because wholesale accounts don\u2019t let you connect with your customers in the same way that farmers markets do.<\/p>\n Be aware that in many states, it\u2019s illegal to sell wild-harvested mushrooms to restaurants or wholesale accounts, so check your local state laws.<\/p>\n A community-supported-agriculture model\u2014or perhaps a community-supported-fungi model\u2014is less common in the mushroom farming world than in traditional agriculture, but it\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n In Minneapolis, Kempenich partners with independent grocer Pahl\u2019s Market to offer a mushroom add-on to the market\u2019s vegetable CSA. This is the mushroom CSA\u2019s first year, and 200 people\u201410 percent of the Pahl\u2019s Market\u00a0CSA\u2014purchased a share, which exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cWith more education, over time, we\u2019ll continue to see that number grow,\u201d says Kempenich, who has been foraging for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n He looks at this CSA as a wholesale account for his business because he knows he has a standing order of 200 mushroom units each week. Kempenich cautions that doing this as a stand-alone CSA would be more challenging: \u201cIt would be cost-prohibitive up front until you built a substantial number.\u201d<\/p>\n Plus, part of the appeal of this CSA model is getting to partner with another independent, locally owned business.<\/p>\n While mushroom farming includes mushrooms that are cultivated in growth medium in buildings, they can also be cultivated outdoors. Both are interesting to the consumer, and Sierigk capitalizes on this by offering farm tours.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tours are a very different angle on things and require some degree of marketing energy and outlay of cash for advertising and all,\u201d Sierigk says. \u201cFarm tours can become time demanding \u2026 however, we really like connections with people that have generally not been exposed to the type of agriculture that we practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Sierigk looks for any opportunity to spend time in the woods\u2014such as leading these tours\u2014and he points out that participants generally make a purchase on the tour, which adds a lot of value.<\/p>\n About four years into his mushroom farming business, Kempenich started leading classes as a break from tending to mushrooms 70 to 80 hours each week. He now runs foraging classes as well as overnight tours through the woods of Minnesota with well-known chefs to forage and then cook mushrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cI like tying everything together,\u201d Kempenich says. \u201cThe mushrooms go to a great restaurant, so why not bring the chefs to the woods?\u201d By adding this social aspect to forging, he creates more collective mushroom knowledge and also connects more people to the outdoors.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an industry of mushrooms used for medicinal research. In biosecure labs and growing facilities, mushroom cultivators and scientists alike experiment and develop products for medicinal industries.<\/p>\n Independently, however, farms that sell tinctures and supplements from their mushrooms have to be much more careful. Scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mushroom growers quietly offering these products. Those who make and sell holistic, health-promoting mushroom products must refrain from making any medical claims and can\u2019t make the products on a large scale.<\/p>\n In any agricultural pursuit, waste occurs. How you handle that \u201cwaste\u201d is up to you. At the OGS Spring Conference, Cotter, who has grown mushrooms commercially since 1994, suggested value-added additions to any mushroom enterprise.<\/p>\n Dehydrate the mushrooms that you don\u2019t sell at the market today so you can sell them later, and offer compost and vermicompost from your scraps. Partner with others to see your mushrooms in prepared foods, beer and other products.<\/p>\n There are nearly as many ways to profit from mushrooms as there are varieties of mushrooms themselves. None of these enterprise options is a simple, hands-off business, but each has a reward for the mushroom lover.<\/p>\n When producing mushrooms indoors, an economy of scale is at work, as you need to build a whole space for cultivation. See \u201cThe Mushroom Gold Rush\u201d on page 62 for more about start-up costs. In these operations, mushroom producers such as Fox Farm & Forage\u2019s Amy Fox say the key is to go big.<\/p>\n The directive here is quantity plus quality.<\/p>\n When using logs and an outdoor setting, Steve Sierigk, co-owner of Hawk Mountain Farm, suggests quality be the initial focus\u2014forget about quantity right now.<\/p>\n \u201cStart modestly, as there are so many variables that need to be right for this to work well,\u201d he says. \u201cI always recommend quality over quantity in all aspects of natural-log mushroom production. It can be as small as about 100 production logs to give a modest weekly supply. In fact, I always recommend starting small to get the knack for handling the logs and all of the demands of the crop.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of cultivating this quality is to have some idea of what you\u2019re doing before you get started, in business as well as mushroom production. There are too many variables in the market and in production that can\u2019t be learned just by reading a book. Fox has never hired a consultant, but she had known to do so: \u201cIt would have saved me thousands,\u201d she says.<\/p>\nWholesale vs. Farmers Market: Which Is Better?<\/h3>\n
Adding Mushrooms to a CSA Program<\/h2>\n
How Mushroom CSAs Work<\/h3>\n
Considerations Before Starting a Mushroom CSA<\/h3>\n
Using Agritourism to Grow Your Mushroom Brand<\/h2>\n
Hosting Farm Tours to Boost Sales<\/h3>\n
Foraging Adventures and Educational Events<\/h3>\n
Selling Medicinal Mushrooms: What to Know<\/h2>\n
Regulatory Risks and Selling Restrictions<\/h3>\n
Creating Value-Added Products with Mushrooms<\/h2>\n
Dehydrating and Composting for Profit<\/h3>\n
Quality vs. Quantity in Mushroom Farming<\/h2>\n
Indoor Growing Requires Scale<\/h3>\n
Outdoor Growing Prioritizes Craft and Care<\/h3>\n