How much profit is there in mushroom cultivation? A profitability analysis

I think everyone has eaten mushrooms in their life, right? I remember that when I was little, I often went up the mountain with a few friends to pick mushrooms. Back then there were a lot of wild mushrooms on the mountain, but with the development of today's society, many mountains have already been mined, and wild mushrooms are becoming fewer and fewer.

Profit from mushroom cultivation

A 100 sq m edible mushroom micro-factory can earn an annual profit of more than 500,000 yuan. Take the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), the most sought-after on the market and the one with higher nutritional value, as an example: on a single layer, per sq m, per batch, calculated at the most conservative yield of 30 jin, a single layer of 100 sq m yields 3,000 jin of mushrooms; with five batches a year that is 15,000 jin; generally five layers can be grown vertically, that is 15,000 jin X 5 layers = 75,000 jin, and the annual output value is 75,000 jin X 8 yuan/jin = 600,000 yuan. Subtract the raw material procurement cost of straw + spawn + nutrient solution + labor = 1 yuan/jin, 75,000 jin X 1 yuan/jin = 75,000 yuan, and the net profit = output value 600,000 yuan - 75,000 yuan = 525,000 yuan.

Ordinary mushroom cultivation has a net profit of at least 20%, while Youjunpai mushroom cultivation, because it uses rice straw, wheat straw, corn stalks, soybean stalks, peanut vines, cotton stalks, branches and miscellaneous wood, as well as cattle, horse, sheep, pig and other livestock and poultry manure, these cheap raw materials, and involves no input of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or hormones, and further benefits from national policy reductions and exemptions, while green and healthy food commands a relatively high price, has a profit as high as more than 75%!

The nutritional advantages of mushroom vegetables  

1. High protein content. Fresh or water-soaked edible mushrooms have a protein content of 1%~3.5%, slightly higher than ordinary vegetables. For example, water-soaked wood ear mushroom has a protein content of 1.5%, and fresh shiitake mushroom has a protein content of 2.2%. Dried edible mushrooms, because of reduced moisture, show a greatly increased protein proportion, with a protein content mostly of 10%~30%. The protein quality in edible mushrooms is also relatively high, containing 9 amino acids essential to the human body, and their proportion is relatively close to the proportion of essential amino acids in the human body, so they are well utilized and highly nutritious.  

2. Rich in micronutrients, such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin K, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and selenium, etc. Among these, the most unique is vitamin D, which is almost absent from other vegetables. Its main function is to promote calcium absorption and regulate calcium metabolism, which is crucial to bone health. In recent years, research has also found that vitamin D is related to the prevention and treatment of common chronic diseases such as arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease.  

3. Edible mushrooms contain a class of components with special health value——mushroom polysaccharides. Mushroom polysaccharides exist in the cell walls of edible mushrooms and have been proven to have effects such as improving immunity, regulating blood lipids and fighting cancer. Some of these mushroom polysaccharides, such as lentinan from shiitake and wood ear polysaccharide, have been developed into drugs and applied clinically.

Remedial methods for problems encountered during mushroom growth  

1. Mycelium does not grow onto the casing soil layer. This is mainly due to the compost being over-fermented or under-fermented, or improper pH of the compost and casing soil; or because too much water was sprayed after casing, flowing into the compost layer and causing the mycelium to shrivel or die. In cultivation, measures such as strengthening ventilation, adjusting the pH and punching holes in the compost to release excess water should be taken for remediation.  

2. Mushroom death from high temperature. Because the temperature is too high and the humidity too great, mushroom buds turn yellow or die. In management, measures such as strengthening ventilation, stopping spraying water and lowering the room temperature should be used to reduce mushroom death.  

3. Dense mushrooms. This is mainly due to the compost being too thin or too dry; or the casing soil being too thin, the mycelium growing past the fine soil, and poor management, causing weak mycelial vitality, dense fruiting, small fruiting bodies and poor quality. Therefore, measures such as topdressing fertilizer and adding soil and maintaining normal temperature should be taken to prevent dense mushrooms.  

4. Hard opening of the cap. Because of a drop in temperature or too great a day-night temperature difference, dry air, or the compost being too wet, etc., the mycelial vitality becomes weak, making immature fruiting bodies prone to hard cap opening. Measures such as keeping warm and increasing air humidity are often used to prevent hard cap opening.  

5. Deformed mushrooms. Thick casing soil, oversized soil particles, too late covering with fine soil, as well as excessive humidity and poor ventilation, often produce some deformed mushrooms. The main preventive measures are to use soil particles of appropriate size, cover with soil at the right time, and not let the soil layer be too thick, followed by strengthening water and ventilation management, etc.  

6. Hollow-stemmed white-cored mushrooms. When the temperature is high and the water supply is insufficient, or when the temperature is low and mushrooms grow slowly and stay on the bed for too long, the hollow-stemmed white-core phenomenon occurs. It is mainly prevented by strengthening temperature and water management.  

Design of mushroom beds  

For mushroom houses, mushrooms can be cultivated using old houses, basements, air-raid shelters and rammed-earth cultivation rooms, plastic film houses and mushroom sheds in sugarcane fields, etc.  

1. The mushroom house should face south, which is conducive to ventilation and air exchange and to indoor warmth retention in winter.  

2. The mushroom house structure must be solid, with the roof and four walls not leaking wind, good heat and moisture retention performance, and the surrounding walls and top able to be whitewashed with limewater to eliminate pests and prevent contaminating fungi.  

3. The mushroom house must be tightly sealed; after the doors and windows are closed, no light comes through, making it a dark room, and there are no rat holes, so pests cannot easily enter.  

4. Air circulation: when the doors and windows are opened for ventilation and air exchange, fresh air can be brought in within a short time and harmful gases discharged, without causing sharp changes in indoor temperature. It is best to install fixed ventilation windows; set upper windows in the walls and ground windows at the foot of the walls. The lower the ground windows, the better the ventilation. Because carbon dioxide is heavier than air and often accumulates in the lower layer, if the ground windows are high it is not easy to discharge it. The accumulated concentration of carbon dioxide in the mushroom house is required not to exceed 0.5%.  

5. Close to a clean water source, with open surroundings, a sufficient site for composting the substrate, higher terrain that is good for drainage, and no factories producing toxic gases nearby. 

Because wild mushrooms are gradually approaching extinction, but people's demand for mushrooms is still constantly increasing, many people have begun to cultivate mushrooms one after another. The most important thing in mushroom cultivation is the design of the mushroom bed; as long as you master certain techniques, you can greatly increase mushroom yields.