Shi Li: Rooted in the front line of edible mushroom production for 30 years without pause

"Picking shiitake mushrooms in leather shoes, selling shiitake mushrooms by car" is a vision that mushroom farmers in our county put forward more than a decade ago, and it is also a saying often mentioned by Shi Li, a senior agronomist at the county edible mushroom technology extension station. In order to modernize edible mushroom cultivation, from graduating from Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1987 to now, he has been working on the front line of production on technical experiments, demonstrations, base construction and technology extension for edible and medicinal mushrooms, for 30 years without pause, never forgetting his original aspiration.

Shi Li has conducted in-depth research on the breeding of new varieties such as shiitake mushrooms, black wood ear mushrooms and oyster mushrooms and on facility-controlled cultivation technology, and has successively obtained 2 variety approvals for non-major crops in Zhejiang Province, 3 invention patents and 2 utility model patents, and has led or participated in more than a dozen scientific research projects. "I have always taken the transformation and upgrading of the edible mushroom industry as my goal. Mushroom farmers hope to pick mushrooms in leather shoes and sell mushrooms by car. I think this idea is very good, and now some mushroom farmers have already turned this dream into reality." Because of backward equipment and technology, the traditional way of growing mushrooms had long stick-making times, a high scrapping rate of mushroom sticks and a poor working environment, and mushroom farmers complained endlessly. The professional mushroom stick production model created by Shi Li solved the technical problems in every link from material selection, material preparation, sterilization and inoculation to transportation, replacing more than 200 traditional sterilization earth stoves across the county with 20 professional mushroom stick production lines. Now, mushroom farmers can directly obtain professional mushroom sticks of high-quality varieties at a relatively low price from efficient sterilization stations, greatly reducing labor intensity and improving economic benefits. This production model has already been promoted and applied across the province.

Shi Li said that since he has chosen this industry, he must do it well. Technical research in the edible mushroom industry is rather special, and results generally cannot be seen in the short term. To do a good job in variety research and innovate cultivation methods, long periods of repeated experiments and accumulation are needed. The continuous production of edible mushrooms is highly seasonal. Under different environmental conditions each day, research requires timely tracking, observation and recording of mushroom growth. Sometimes, if one day is missed, a whole season of research time may be missed, and one can only wait until the next year to continue. In order to record first-hand research data, Shi Li frankly admits that his spare time life is very simple and dull, and his time completely follows the rhythm of agricultural production. For him, there are no fixed rest days, and he deals with mushrooms almost every day of the 365 days of the year. Only by enduring loneliness can one preserve prosperity. For him, being able to constantly discover problems and solve them is the greatest pleasure, and solving technical bottlenecks and meeting farmers' production needs is his duty. In the professional mushroom stick production model, just on the question of how to deliver mushroom sticks to mushroom farmers without secondary contamination, Shi Li pondered for a full year, and to solve the problem of the high scrapping rate of swollen mushroom bags, he tested repeatedly for two years, reducing the original swelling rate of more than 50% to the current 0.5%. "When you put all your energy into one thing, and persist to the end, you will certainly gain something, sooner or later." Shi Li said with emotion, "It is precisely because there is a group of craftsmen who have studied assiduously for ten years without pause and constantly developed new varieties and new technologies that the edible mushroom industry in Wuyi is flourishing."

At present, Shi Li is plunging himself into the field of organic edible mushrooms. He hopes to make edible mushrooms organic and realize factory-based production, and to keep carrying forward the craftsman spirit of striving for perfection.