Although over 2,000 varieties of mushrooms are edible, only a handful have become important in the American diet. The mushrooms most familiar to U.S. Other varieties of agaricus, the criminis and portabellas, are known as the "browns." Shiitake (shee tah kay), oyster, wood ear and enoki (e nok e) mushrooms are also popular. Particularly in the Pacific Northwest and the northeastern United States, seasonal species such as morels, oysters and chanterelles are gathered in the wild and sold at farmers' markets and through retail stores. U.S. consumers continue to purchase fresh, canned and dried mushrooms, both domestic and imported. The United States produced 844 billion pounds of mushrooms in 2019. The total value of the crop was $1.1 billion in 2019. The number of commercial mushroom growers was 347, a decrease of 11 growers from the previous season. Most commercially produced mushrooms are agaricus species. During the 2020 season, the sale of agaricus mushrooms totaled $1.09 billion.

Of the 796 million pounds of agaricus produced that season, the majority, or 824 million pounds, were grown for the fresh market and 55.6 million pounds were processed. Pennsylvania is the leading state producing agaricus mushrooms. The state supplies 66 percent of the nation’s production, with California second at 14 percent of U. In case you have almost any issues regarding in which along with the best way to use manufacturer of shiitake mushroom extract powder as Raw Material for beverages, you can contact us from our web site. S. The farms that produced Pennsylvania's large crop of mushrooms in 2020 are concentrated in the southeastern portion of the state. Specialty mushrooms, include shiitake, oyster and similar unusual mushrooms. Sales for commercially grown specialty mushrooms in 2019-2020 were $67.4 million, up 2 percent from the previous season. The average price received by growers is $3.37 per pound, down 7 cents form previous season estimate. A specialty grower is defined as having at least 200 natural wood logs in production of some commercial indoor growing area, and $200 or more in sales. Growers produced 127 million pounds of mushrooms that were certified organic during the 2019-2020 growing season.62 percent of the total 79.4 million pounds, were sold as certified organic mushrooms.

Agaricus mushrooms accounted for 88 percent of the mushrooms sold as certified organic and specialty were the remainder. Most hobbyists or small-scale growers should begin by cultivating such easy-to-produce specialty mushrooms as shiitakes and oyster mushrooms. The criminis and other agarics that are commercially grown by large-scale operations are labor- and technology-intensive species, and it is not cost effective to try to compete with large-scale production systems. Likewise, some of the other high-value species (morels, truffles) also are very labor or technology intensive. Small-scale mushroom production represents an opportunity for farmers interested in an additional enterprise and is a specialty option for farmers without much land. Many small-scale production systems are well suited to market gardeners who wish to incorporate mushrooms into their vegetable production systems and for those individuals interested in using mushroom cultivation as a way to add value from the material derived from thinning woodlots and similar "waste" materials. Mushroom production can play an important role in managing farm organic wastes, encouraging the production of value-added bedding materials from agricultural and food processing by-products.

All commercial mushroom production involves the purchase or production of substrate (bedding-compost) material. This is an intensive aspect of production for large-scale producers; however, it can be quite manageable for small-scale producers and hobbyists. The substrate or compost must be "spawned" with mushroom mycelium that must then be allowed to develop in the compost mixture. This usually is done under relatively aseptic conditions. At some point, after the mycelium has fully colonized the substrate, the "cast" is exposed to air, and perhaps soil and water, to promote formation of marketable fruiting bodies. Many hobbyist kits and other small-scale production systems use a similar strategy to produce spawn under relatively aseptic conditions. In these systems, the spawn is mixed into a sawdust-based substrate watered and stimulated to fruit. For other species like the oyster mushrooms, the substrate is chopped wheat straw or cottonseed hulls or some mixture of the two, but production is similar. Many kit manufacturers and supply houses market "ready for production" pre-spawned sealed bags of spawned substrate.

This, in itself, has become a value-added business for many specialty mushroom growers. Most U.S. specialty growers use some sort of "synthetic log" production system. Sawdust is the most popular ingredient used in synthetic substrate formulations for shiitake and many other high-value species. Sometimes sawdust is substituted for straw or corncobs. Usually a starch-based supplement, wheat bran, rice bran, millet, rye, corn and so on, is added at a 10 percent to 40 percent dry weight ratio. The starch-based material serves as an additional nutrient source for optimum growth. Many small-scale production systems are simple and inexpensive to establish, with information and materials being readily available from on-line sources and mail order suppliers. Additionally, there are numerous spawn suppliers throughout the United States and Canada. Besides experimenting with different strains, commercial growers are encouraged to purchase spawn from more than one spawn supplier. Mixing inoculum and spawn sources ensures that different strains can be merged to produce the best mushroom under the specific growing conditions of the operation.