How to Start a Mushroom Farm

If you're interested in starting your own mushroom farm, you have come to the right place. This page will teach you the following:

• The Product
• The Customers
• Basic Startup Costs
• Tools Needed
• Production Methods
• Challenges in the operation
• Sources
• Resources to Learn More

The Product - Fresh Shiitake

There are other mushrooms you can grow and sell, but the primary market is for Fresh Shiitake. For the sake of keeping things simple on this page, we're going to focus on Fresh Shiitake. So you know, the other fresh mushrooms are: Maitake, Oyster, and Reishi.

• Wholesale Price - $10 - 12/Pound
• Retail Price - $12 - 16/Pound

The Customers

These customers are your standard small farm customers. Nothing new here. Restaurants are always ideal because they will often pay top dollar for the product and will buy in significant quantities. Farmer's Markets are good if you already have other products to sell there. CSA's are great, again, if you already have other products to sell. Wholesale will you earn you the least but give you a relatively easy outlet to sell your fresh mushrooms.

• Restaurants
• Farmer’s Markets
• CSA’s
• Wholesale - Distributors, Groceries, Value Adders

Revenue Projections

Let's do the simple math and see how much we can earn with a few basic constraints.

30 Marketing Weeks/Year - March -> October

1/2# of "Fruit"/log. Each logs fruits 3x per season.

100 logs fruiting each week = 50 pounds of harvest each week.

Can fruit a log 3x per season = once every 10 weeks. Need 10 x 100 logs to produce consistently each week. Need 1000 Logs.

Produce 50# of Shiitake per week on a 1000 log population

Wholesale 50#/week @ $10/pound = $500/week

30 weeks * $500/week = $15,000 per season

So, we can potentially earn $15,000 in a season if we are selling wholesale and there is sufficient demand. That's a nice addition to any small farm.

Startup Costs

Now, let's look at how much it will cost to get up and running with this operation.

Tools:

• Okuda Hand Innoculator - $385
• Express Drilling Machine - $135
• 13.5mm Soft Steel w/ Screwtip - $16

Tools Subtotal - $536

 

Logs

Logs - 3-6" diameter x 40" long, oak, maple, alder, among others

Log Price - $1 each ~

1000 Logs = $1000

Logs Subtotal - $1000

 

Spawn

Shiitake - Bellweather Sawdust Spawn (5.5 lb. bag - good for 40 logs) $12.50/bag (bulk discount)

1000 logs / 40 logs per bag = 25 bags need

$12.50 * 25 bags needed = $312.50

13.5 mm Styrafoam caps (108,000 ct.) (good for about 2,000 logs) = $340

Spawn Subtotal - $652.50

 

Startup Cost Total

Tools - $536

Logs - 1,000

Spawn - $652.50

Startup Cost Total - $2188.50

So, spend $2,200~ to earn $18,000. That's a great return. An important thing to remember is that if you innoculate them this spring, you'll need to wait until next spring to harvest.

Production Challenges

It's all not all just biscuits and gravy, you know? These numbers look good, but there are a couple key challenges in this production process that we need to be aware of.

1. Sourcing the Logs

This is probably the biggest challenge in the whole operation. Imagine walking through the woods with a chainsaw and saying to yourself "I need 1,000 logs, 40" long between 3" and 6" in diameter." That's kind of crazy. Not only do you have to find the right size wood, you have to cut it down, buck it to length, and most challenging of all, move it to where you want it. Needless to say you would be very lucky to be able to pay someone $1,000 to deliver you 1,000 logs cut to length correctly sized.

2. Innoculating the Logs

This is serious production work. You need to drill approximately 100 holes per log, then fill them with spawn. And you need to repeat that process 1,000 times!

That's 100,000 drilled holes and 100,000 holes filled with spawn. Not easy work.

You need a very efficient system to innoculate.

3. The market must be developed and not saturated.

This is probably the smallest hurdle of the three, but it is still significant nonetheless.

Which leads us to the Market Research process..

Market Research Process

• Identify all of the current producers of Shiitake Mushrooms in your state
• Speak with your local distributors and ask them:
• How many pounds of Shiitake do you buy and sell per week?
• What price are you buying fresh shiitake for?
• Is it challenging for you to get high quality, reliable product?
• Attend your local Farmer’s Market and see who is selling Shiitake

After going through these steps, you should have a good sense of whether this operation is a fit on your land or not.

If you think this would be a good fit and want to learn the details of production, get the business templates, and step by step guidance from a mushroom farmer who has been down this path before you, we're working on developing a course for you.

 

Cheers,

Luke

 

Resources

Ep. 2 - Shiitake Cultivation w/ Joe Crawczyk of Field and Forest Products

Mushroom Growing Supplies - Field and Forest Products

Mushroom Economics (Cornell)

Mushroom Turning a Profit for Forest Farmers in the Northeast

Best Practices for Log Based Shiitake Cultivation