My Journey as a Mushroom Grower

Sharing some of the experiences? as a mushroom grower, which started for an introvert, 22 years old, a bit confused, a bit aggressive, a bit rebellious, energetic ,wanting to do something different in life, finished Masters from Botany Department Delhi University, with specialization in Microbiology. By chance I met Capt. Amarender Singh, ex CM. of Punjab, who introduced commercial mushroom growing in India, around 1972, being in contact with a British mushroom grower.

Logistics

My first job with Capt. Sahib was located at a picturesque place, Chail in Shimla hills. The main raw material used to be horse manure, transported all the way from 'IMA Dehradun' and? 'President Bodyguards Delhi'. Maintaining climate was easy without air conditioning except for the rainy months of July-August. Straw and chicken manure came from Chandigarh. The fresh mushrooms were transported to Delhi, though the farm was equipped with a canning unit. I realised that transportation costs to and fro, formed the major component, while calculating the cost of production.

Many mushroom farms are located far away from crowds, owing to cheap land and odour problems. But sometimes such locations are/used to be far from the main power grid and in absence of constant supply of electricity. It is difficult to generate reasonable profits, if diesel generators are run too often.

I know working at a mushroom farm in the middle of a big industrial area. Though the infrastructure was good, the labour force was too expensive. Ours is a 365 *24 affair DEMANDING? and working on holidays and festivals can be challenging. Most of the workforce prefer to work in industry, and the agriculture workers prefer to work In? rice plantation, grain/sugarcane harvest ,fetching more money.

I have seen many intelligent people coming and going out of this business. They were successful in their other line of business. Spent huge amounts of money without taking in consideration of required expertise in the field, or by attracting the best talent. What surprises me is when an entrepreneur spends crores of rupees on the project, not thinking who will run it successfully. Visiting a few farms here and there, watching videos on Youtube or a crash course at DMR and Universities is not enough homework. I feel surprised to see entrepreneurs greasing the palm of the electricity department without a blink of an eye, but to hire a consultant, think twice…finding the right person is another subject.

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Short shelf life of mushrooms and absence of a cold chain poses its own challenge.Location of markets and farm and transport means matters a lot. Mushroom farms surrounding metros catering them are at an advantage. Example, By making plenty available, Haryana seasonal growers made Delhites, eat mushrooms and became the favourite veggie.

Hilly areas are not suitable for shortage of water in summers.

Cost of energy. A line of border exists between UP and Uttarakhand. On one side, electricity cost is at par with industry (approx Rs 10 per unit), other side is agriculture rate (approx Rs 3 per unit). State subsidy is another matter to be considered. Far away from cities. spares for loaders, chillers etc, may be difficult/time taken to reach is long.?

No point in having angry neighbours shouting at you to be considered. for odour and noise problems. I remember a dhaba owner, with an open air sitting arrangement at three lanes away, cursing the mushroom farm owner for losing his customers, once composting started and sometimes direction of wind flow did not help! Some farms forgot to plan a proper drainage system, though compost goody water is recycled.

Poultry farms are scattered throughout the country. Adapting to local straw is a 'must'. While making a choice of straw, physical structure, chemical composition/nutrition and price should be considered critically.

But location should be close to where you intend to live as you cannot run the mushroom business with remote control! Above points should be considered while setting up a mushroom farm.

Lessons learnt the hard way

Many years ago, working in Punjab, I realised that a dip in production in a few batches was observed in the month of August, year after year. Reason was ,In May-June when wheat crop is harvested in full swing, price of straw is at lowest peak, therefore got it directly from the fields. Despite the prewet period being extended by two days, the wax layer limited the water absorption. .The compost looked good superficially with fast spawn run and case run, but core of the straw remained less than 'optimum fermentation level'.

Once upon a time, working in Andhra Pradesh, paddy straw was a new material for me.A significant drop in production followed after a period of super production.Actually they grow paddy crop three times in a year and each time the variety of straw is different. The computer records for Phase1 and Phase2 looked perfect with a flawless temp record. It was difficult to control temp in growing rooms as the composting process was incomplete.We were making one batch a day. By the time blunder was realised, damage had been done! Moral of the story is, observe the straw as being unloaded and plan the duration and water management during phase zero (prewet) and phase 1.

I tell my juniors that being born and brought up in the lower middle class, we are conditioned to 'compromise' in all aspects of life. But it does not work in compost or casing soil preparation. Straw exposed to rains and dried up subsequently; old dark, moist chicken manure mixed with soil from poultry farm with 'kacha' floor, cow manure not? weathered fully, may be cheap, but when we are not able to touch desired yield, the frustration is killing!

List of mistakes done includes, level of decomposition during composting being either 'under' or 'over.(pic.1) The casing soil getting pressed due to excess watering done? with an old shower. Casing soil is getting hard due to aggressive growth of mycelium, and overpinning. During days with heavy production combined with shortage of labour, 'hygiene' is the first thing to be compromised. But at that time we do not think about the dangers of flies and bubbles on the? horizon !

Most of us do make mistakes in the early phase of our careers, and must not be repeated. Overnight success is a myth.???

How to be not 'bowled out"

I remember a story from the eighties in the UK. Overproduction of mushrooms resulted in a steep fall in prices, For survival of all growers,their strong association decided to double the per capita consumption in the country in two years.They pooled the money according to size of mushroom farm and hired the best private advertisement firm A strong campaign was launched with big hoardings all over and ad.s on TV prime time and printed media.

We in our country need to form a lobby to draw the attention of policy makers of the nation.A brilliant example is NECG (National Egg Coordination Committee), but who will bell the cat? An extra effort to popularise this wonderful food among masses, especially educated middle class, is the need of the hour! In this era of social media, all we need is a full time IT cell (like political parties) highlighting how it is different from other vegetables, and its culinary delights by chefs.

In our country, marketing system is not conducive to farmers where margins of middlemen are high and mushroom markets are manipulated by a group of traders/arthies

To be successful in our business, For production,? three important factors are??

• Quality of raw material

?Besides straw, chicken manure and casing material including coir pith, another component is spawn. It is scary to see people who do not understand "mutations can happen easily in mushroom mycelium having long cells with multiple nuclei" carrying out subculturing repeatedly in their laboratories. This can result in poor colonization on compost resulting in low production, abnormalities of fruiting bodies and stroma formation. Therefore source of spawn should be done carefully.

Journaling of procedures helps. Changes made in composting, and so many factors, nobody remembers at the end of crop , while doing a post mortem of a batch. Check lists, duty charts also helps.

• People

An analytical mind with a sharp sense of sight, nose and feel in hand are important for a composter to 'read' his compost. Dealing with relatively fresh and old straw, losing too much ammonia during Phase 1, water management and? building bound water etc are expected.

Actually the crop management practices of a 'not-so-good' compost to a 'perfect batch' is very different. The grower should be able to 'read' the batch.

Lab results are indicative, but skill and experience of a? composter is more important.

Once you know why, what and how ,now you can apply common sense while making day to day decisions on the spot.

Two unsung heroes of a mushroom farm are - Driver on the loader, for only he can do the best mixing of raw materials and see the compost pile in totality. Second being watering boys, as their decision and hand movement determine the uniformity of the crop and they see each and every part of the growing surface daily and are capable of observing any unusual thing.

Good growing makes good harvesting, but picking the right size at the right time in the right way with a good speed, determines productivity. Good relationships with suppliers and dealers cannot be undermined. Despite the common market, exchange of views with fellow entrepreneurs also helps.

• Flexibility of composting and crop management system

VFDs on blowers and best of climate control systems. Filters and farm design with a point of view to prevent flies and moulds.?

Technical help from government agencies is available for free, but often of poor quality. Private help is expensive. Holland is the knowledge leader for mushroom cultivation in the world with the best training institutes. But they are not familiar with our raw materials, climate and working without computerised controls.

Until a few decades back, very few entrepreneurs would touch mushroom growing as it was labelled as "high financial investment combined with risk of inconsistent/failure of crops". The new generation is educated, bold, dedicated, smart and learning the trick of trade fast and adapting to the clever growing and marketing strategies. Only the most intelligent and progressive growers with innovative ideas, picking 24 % yield in two flushes(pic above),? on a consistent basis, will win the game. They should be alert to any new development and see if it can be adapted. At the same time, learn from old hands.

We are passing through a very difficult time when prices of mushrooms are record low with ever escalating costs at all fronts.Our best will come out as" tough times produce tough people".

Joys of mushroom growing

During Phase 1, playing with timer/VFD to make temp. shoot to 80 or 85 deg C, according to my will!

Having control over the growth of mycelium, tame it in the casing soil layer with waterings (pic above), when mycelium threads are just the way, I want(speed and looks) to ruffling and later. Venting on that perfect moment after anastomosis.

Creating stagger, avoiding overpinning. (pic above)

Interacting with watering teams, bubble checking teams and pickers on work quality.

And chasing the production targets.Often exceeding and celebrating with the team!

Barbecuing big size mushrooms..

And the fun continues...?

Near Future

My wish list consists of..

Solar panels covered roofs, No insecticide/fungicide at the farm. No polythene. Eco Friendly packing. Mushrooms cooked and enjoyed in more and more kitchens ..

New strains on the list of Sylvan and other big players. A short cycle, one single flush extending 10 to 12 days, with full conversion.

Efficient locally developed 'desi' supplement.

Heat energy from composting gets converted to electric energy.

Indian mushroom grower association getting stronger with a board of professionals .Organised sector with agendas.

Fortifying Selenium, Zinc, Magnesium in compost at the time of spawning to have rich mushrooms for these vital elements.Exposing growing mushrooms to UV to enhance Vit D, Of course, most importantly, a better price for the grower!?

More research is needed to understand the relationship between mushroom mycelium and microbes present in compost and casing soil.This will help us to increase efficiency of? transfer of nutrients from compost, as nutrition is still left, when we empty the crop .

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As seen in developed countries, with quantities of mushroom production going up, fewer bigger and efficient farms will steal the show. For them bulk buying of RM is cheaper and is preferred by wholesale dealers and retailers, who can afford to hire the best talent. Few small and medium farms will remain, like neighbourhood grocery shops surviving with JioMart and Bigbasket!

Author : Arun Gupta

With over four decades as a mushroom grower, I've excelled in projects of all sizes, utilizing diverse raw materials and teams in various locations. My expertise lies in producing top-quality mushrooms while keeping production costs low and ensuring consistency. I also focus on training team members and adjusting climate conditions to meet market demands. During the pandemic, I delved into virtual consultancy, resulting in an impressive 24% bioconversion rate, yielding grade-A button mushrooms. I use innovative approaches such as short wheat/mustard straw and manure-based casing material in bag cultivation with manual climate control. From 2018 till now, I have designed and launched six modern mushroom farms, working on a few mushroom? projects ,continuously, improving productivity.