MycoRant

You’d think the methods and techniques for growing button mushrooms commercially would have been pretty well worked out by now. This is probably true with respect to the actual growing process, but there are no doubt still improvements to make in materials, construction, and facility design. From the Associated Press, Sprouting High-Tech Mushrooms In Maryland describes a state-of-the-art facility operated by Phillips Mushroom Farms.

Phillips Mushroom Farms, an 82-year-old third-generation mushroom grower headquartered in Kennett Square, Pa., has opened a 235,000-square-foot growing facility in Cecil County. The facility, which produces 180,000 pounds of white button mushrooms each week, contains no wood and is largely odorless. M Construction, which is headquartered in Lancaster, Pa., built the facility from all galvanized steel to deter rust and inhibit the growth of bacteria. A Dutch firm designed it using new cultivation technology from Europe. “It’s the only one of its kind in the United States, maybe even in North America,” said Steve Brackin, the manager of the Warwick plant.

Mushrooms have been grown basically the same way (in beds of compost set up in cool, dark places) since at least Victorian times, but this does indeed seem like an improvement.

Tags: mushroom growing