Developing edible fungi accelerates the pace of income growth for farmers in Shizhai Town, Feng County, Jiangsu

In recent years, Shizhai Town in Feng County, Jiangsu, based itself on “increasing farmers’ income and improving agricultural efficiency,” vigorously developing the edible mushroom industry, among which the wood ear mushroom industry has flourished in particular. By 2015, the town had grown 250 million bags of wood ear mushrooms, with total revenue of 250 million yuan and per capita net income of more than 3,000 yuan, and was known as the province’s number one town for wood ear mushroom production. Shixiaoqiao Village is the earliest specialized village to develop edible mushroom production. At present, more than 60% of the village’s land transferred is planted with edible mushrooms, the planting scale has reached more than 40 million bags, net income has exceeded 40 million yuan, and the average annual income of each household has increased by more than 25%, radiating to many surrounding towns and villages and accelerating the pace of farmers increasing their income and becoming prosperous.