How to start a mushroom farming business
An overview of the mushroom business industry
On a global scale, between 2015 through 2022, the market value for mushrooms is predicted to surpass $50 billion, and this is primarily due to the increasing demands for mushrooms lately. The possible explanation for this demand for mushrooms is their low fat and cholesterol content being considered suitable for the health.
Mushrooms often contain small amounts of sodium and gluten and have different nutrients such as vitamins, potassium, and selenium. Dried, raw, frozen, or canned mushrooms may be eaten and have broken down the market into new and processed categories.
Mushrooms could be used for therapeutic purposes, mainly due to its concentration of vitamin B, D, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and other mineral material. Mushrooms are parasitic because they rely on other plants for food. Industrial waste, such as animal and bio-based waste, are viable options for mushroom cultivation.
Mushrooms do not need much land use as they can be cultivated in polytunnels, lawns, and woodlands. This factor has motivated more farmers to go into mushroom cultivation, particularly as they also have different life cycles than green ones.
The industry is expected to see hotels, cafeterias, supermarkets, and restaurants, playing a crucial role shortly that will drastically alter the industry. Some other factors that will help the mushroom industry are the growing customer preferred choice for vegan food and the need to replace meat with something close.
For example, the button and shiitake mushrooms are used as meat alternatives and are preferred by consumers because of their abundant protein sources. Also expected to benefit the increasing market demand between 2015 and 2022 is the rising interest in consumer preference toward processed food consumption.
Facts about Mushrooms
Mushrooms are typically fungal bodies with no chlorophyll; however, they are parasitic. Mushrooms depend entirely on dead or living plants for food.
Mushroom is also an incredible source of calcium, vitamin, mineral, folic acid, and more sources. Mushrooms are also high in calcium and ideal for patients with iron deficiency. Compared to the other cereals and vegetables, Mushrooms generally contains around 35 percent protein.
Proteins present in mushrooms are equally as good as that of those present in animals. In common vegetables, tryptophan and lysine protein are absent, but they are present in mushrooms.
Where do mushrooms grow?
Mushrooms like those growing in dim, cold, and humid conditions. A place like your basement is ideal when you’re growing mushrooms at home, but a spot under the sink might work.
Test your spot before you start growing by testing the temperature. Most mushrooms grow best away from direct heat and drafts in temperatures between 55 and 60 ° F. Enoki mushrooms grow faster, around 45 ° F, at cooler temperatures. Growing mushrooms is a decent winter project since many basements are going to get too warm for ideal conditions in the summer.
Mushrooms can withstand some light; however, most of the spots you use must remain dark or low. If you want to grow mushrooms in your basement, placing them in a closet where they usually can’t be interrupted might be best. Many varieties of mushrooms also grow best in prepared ground or logs outdoors, which is a much longer cycle (six months to three years) than in within managed environments.
How do mushrooms grow?
Mushrooms grow from spores (not seeds), which are so small that the naked eye can not see actual spores. Such spores rely on nourishment on substances such as sawdust, grain, straw, or wood chips rather than soil.
Spawn is considered a combination of the spores and these sources of nutrients. Mushroom spawn behaves much like the seed that you use to make sourdough.
The spawn promotes the growth of small, white, threadlike bodies of mushrooms, called mycelium. The mycelium first grows, until anything resembling a mushroom passes through the soil.
The spawn itself may grow mushrooms; however, when the spawn is added to a growing medium, you will get a lot better mushroom harvest.
It may be paper, cardboard, logs, wood chips or compost, based on the type of mushroom, with a combination of materials such as straw, corncobs, and cocoa seed hulls.
The process involved in growing mushrooms from home
You will have several material options for planting if you are going to be cultivating your mushrooms indoors. What you can do is that you could purchase a mushroom grow kit that is already packed with a growing medium that is infused with mushroom spawn.
If you are a novice to the mushroom business, then a mushroom grows kit would probably be the best option because it would contain everything you need.
However, if you choose not to purchase a grow kit by any chance, then the mushroom you choose to grow will determine the kind of substrate where the mushroom will grow.
So you must do your research to understand each mushroom’s needs.
If you need a pointer, we would advise that you begin with the button mushroom, because they are probably the simplest to grow.
Follow these steps to grow your mushroom effectively:
Step One: Ensure the trays are filled with compost.
Get a tray measuring 14×16 inches deep, which resembles seed flats, then ensure that the tray is filled with mushroom compost materials and have your spawn sprinkled on it.
Step Two: Get a Heating Pad
With a heating pad, you could potentially increase the soil’s temperature to around 700F. You would do this for three weeks long, till you begin to notice the mycelium (it’s a whitish threadlike growth). When you notice this, then you can then reduce the temperature to anywhere from 55 – 600F.
Step Three: Ensure the Soil remains moisty at all times.
You can achieve this by spritzing it with water, and then have it covered using a damp cloth. However, as the cloth begins to dry up, repeat the spritzing process.
Step Four: Harvest the mushrooms
Within three to four weeks, you should begin to notice button mushrooms. When the caps start to open up, you are free to harvest them. Cut off the stalk from the stem using a very sharp knife.
You should avoid pulling it out at all costs, and else you risk causing damage to surrounding fungi that are still n their development phase. If you harvest daily, this should result in the continuous crop for up to 180 days.
Finally, it is super easy to keep your mushrooms growing if you set up a mushroom growing station in your home. However, if you wish to grow more mushrooms, then you will have to keep adding spawn.
An extra tip is that, as long as you keep repeating the spritzing process, you should get a steady supply of mushrooms.
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How to care for your mushrooms
Mushrooms are best cultivated indoors, but can also be cultivated outdoors – to make a good lawn, and you can also apply mushroom spawn to the soil underneath the lawn!
Most mushrooms grow best at around 15-16 ° C (60-61 ° F), even temperature. They do not grow well below 10°C (50°F) or 20°C (68°F) or more.
When using a mushroom kit, usually all you do is place the kit in a suitable place, keep it reasonably warm and add water. Place it somewhere out of direct sunlight and keep the substrate moist by daily misting.
The first harvest ought to be ready to pick in a couple of weeks, and after that, you should get at least another two crops.
Different types of mushrooms
Within a few weeks, the mushroom farming business could produce more income. It is more important to start your own business of growing the right sort of mushroom. There are several types of marinated mushrooms available which include;
- Dhingra Mushroom (Oyster)
- Milky mushroom
- Button Mushroom
- Paddy Straw Mushroom
Here are the 4 Steps to Start Mushroom Farming Business
- Conduct an extensive Product Research
Growers must have a comprehensive understanding of the mushroom ‘s biological conditions, and in particular, which specimen is ideally adapted to the environment that can be given. Mushrooms have significantly different life cycles than green plants, shelf life shorter than most refrigerated plants, and different pests. Production is heavily dependent on careful control of dampness, air movement, light, and temperature control — which may be unreliable for outdoor reliance, and costly to maintain for indoor upkeep.
- Have a Species Focus
The easiest to grow button and oyster mushrooms can be blended into an existing garden facility or on its own “substrate” (specialized growing medium), making it the preferred choice for small, large scale production. Shiitakes develop as hardwood (typically oak) is decomposed, which may require saws and safety equipment, or at least enough space for synthetic or prepared logs. In general, shiitakes require more attention to environmentally suitable strains and timed irrigation than a button or oyster mushrooms. Still, none of these will incur the same costs as other commercially produced edible fungi, such as maitake (hen-of-the-woods), mulls, and truffles.
- Study the Market Conditions
Mushroom farmers need to be very aware of their market. While full-time growers can dedicate their facilities to mushrooms’ production, most small-scale mushroom farming is more likely to provide only additional income. In general, long-term signals have been overwhelmingly favorable for locally grown items, with steady increases in market interest in gourmet and vegetarian cuisine. However, you will need to evaluate your area based on competitiveness and economic conditions carefully. There is some scope for Internet sales and mail order, although the relative fragility and limited shelf life of the mushrooms significantly reduce your choices.
- Conduct an extensive Market Analysis
Careful consideration of the potential market is essential when determining whether to seek a profit motive in growing mushrooms. Mail-order and Internet sales will extend your range. Still, most growers will explore the potential for sales to local independent grocery stores or restaurants, direct sales to farmers ‘ markets (or on your website), and participation with the cooperative. Try offering your product in several ways to cater to a more dynamic market or simply to generate more revenue potential. This may include the selling of dried or canned mushrooms, gift bags, and samplers, or prepared food products such as soups and sauces.
Materials required for mushroom business
- Plastic sheet:Get a Plastic Sheet with a thickness of 400 gauge. Pack the plastic bags along with the spawn and straw. You need to pack about 2 or 3 inches of straw in a plastic bag and sprinkle the spawn. Poke holes in a plastic bag.
- Wooden Mould: Wooden Mould is required of the size 45x30x15 cms. Separate wooden cover about 44×29 cms dimension
- A hand Cutter or Chaff Cutter:For cutting the straw, it is vital to have the Hand Chopper or the Chaff cutter.
- Spawn and Straw:Get the Cereal Straw and golden yellow paddy straw without any mold. These paddy straw needs to be stored only in the dry place. Make a spawn for starting to culture. Buy a ready-to-inoculate spawn or produce your spawn with sterile culture. Straw is the best way for the method.
Profitability in mushroom farming
We recommend starting your own mushroom business because, according to the current market statistics, there is a vast market demand for mushrooms.
One of the main reasons why mushroom is in high demand today is because the consumption rate is quite high, as well as mushrooms being a requirement for food recipes.
As mentioned before, there are different kinds of mushrooms available today, and one of the most natural and most popular choice for farmers is the button mushrooms.
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In some regions today, government officials are encouraging the farming of mushrooms, but they are also providing subsidies required to increase mushroom cultivation.
Online marketing ideas that will boost your mushroom business
For people who are new to the mushroom farming space, mushrooms are the ideal year-round crop because they can be cultivated indoors. Also, they could be grown around six crops annually.
Although cultivating mushrooms is not difficult, people in business who deal with mushrooms face a lot of issues when it comes to selling their produce.
Every mushroom farmer’s marketing goal must be to spike sales.
Below are some tips for implementing:
- Understand your targeted audience
This is the fundamental principle behind every business’s success. As a mushroom businessman, you need to understand who your target audience is, know where to find them, and understand their buying patterns.
- Content Marketing
As they say, content is King, and the same holds for your mushroom business. If you have good content on your website, you will attract the right audience and convert them. However, when we say content, you must understand that it’s a relative term because, content can come in various form, forms like written, Infographics, video etc.
- Email Optimization
Ensure that you hook your customers with your emails. However, you should also understand that emails with the best content, sometimes never gets opened. Something to adopt is to ensure that you have an eye-catching headline, that would prompt clicks.
- Boost contents from your social media
The future of virtual engagement is social media. How you treat your social media content will go a long way in determining how potential customers will view your business. Therefore you should know that these are real humans.
- Instead of just talking about it, show your content.
The popularity of visual content is on the rise. Little wonder, platforms like Instagram and YouTube are generating billions of impressions per hour. Ensure you have the right images and video content for your mushroom business.
- Ensure you have your business cards on you always.
Business cards are an easy way to exchange information, and they bring out the professionalism. It’s a possible way for you to establish your credibility as a mushroom businessman.
- Network
One of the most important offline marketing strategies for your mushroom business. You have to reach out to people and let them know that you are into mushroom business. Attend seminars and workshops related.
Read Also: How to Start a Networking Marketing Business
- Offer incentives to get referrals
There are so many small upcoming businesses that do not have a lot of money to spend on advertising, so the best way to get their business out there in front of people is through the referral system. You could adopt that.
- Go into partnership with other small businesses.
In other to increase sales in your mushroom business, you can enter into a partnership with other startups. These could be businesses that offer related products like you do or businesses whose services compliment your product offering.
- Do giveaways, offer discounts and trials.
If you want to attract more clients, it is recommended that you offer valuable discounts, giveaways, and free trials to your customers. In doing so, you can convert them to potential customers.
- Make sure to stay in contact.
Your mushroom business will always be in your customers’ minds if you cultivate the habit of staying in touch with them. Sometimes, there are entrepreneurs who stay out touch with their client. When you do that, you lose potential repeat business from your most loyal clients.
- Get your business listed.
Ensure that you get your mushroom business listed on google my business, search engines, and local directories. However, these aren’t the only available ones, and you can choose to do so on so many other platforms.
- Get on YouTube
This is probably one of the best methods you can use to help your potential clients get informed about your business. Here, you can make videos about your mushrooms, and upload them to your YouTube channel.
How to drive sales
- Try to offer discounts, free trials, and festive deals for you to convert visitors into customers
- Promote your mushroom business through flyers and pamphlets to the general public
- Record a compelling video and upload it to your various social platforms such as YouTube, Instagram stories, Instagram Live, Snap chat, Facebook live, twitter feed, etc
- You can promote your mushroom business through any email marketing service, such as to get a response, Aweber, etc.
- You could regularly post about your mushroom business on your social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, etc.
- Create a blog and promote a post on numerous social media channels
- Begin a referral program and offer incentives so that you start getting warm leads
- Create fun videos that are related to your brand and then promote it on social media platforms
Common mistakes beginners make in a mushroom farming business.
You have to understand that failure is an integral part of any learning process. However, you must understand that starting a mushroom business is not different.
Outlined below are some common mistakes that many newcomers in the mushroom business often make. Progressively, as you master these steps, growing and cultivating mushrooms becomes very easy:
- Many farmers just starting the mushroom business make the mistake of not understanding the sterile workflow.
- Young and budding entrepreneurs have the character flaw of being too impatient in anything they do; sadly, they bring this attitude into a business.
- If for anything, please do not try to have a short cut to success. In short, do not cut corners.
- Make sure that when you are just starting, to create a favorable mushroom growing condition.
- We advise that you succeed first, then you can experiment later.
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Conclusion
We believe that with the following detailed procedure on how to start a mushroom business, you can effectively follow this guide and have your business running in no time.
If you are interested in agricultural business, you don’t need to necessarily go into cash crop farming. You can make much more profit from this mushroom business if done the right way. Some of the best mushroom breeds, to begin with, are the button and oyster mushroom. Although, there are several other varieties of mushrooms, however, those are the two most recommended because of their cultivating style.