The Hessischer Pilztag took place on november 8th 2017 in Kerns in Switzerland. It was a very well-attended program with over more than 100 participants from 12 countries including of course many Germans, Swiss and Dutch, but also Spaniards and Israelis. In addition to interesting lectures, there was a company visit to ASN Kerns who gave a tour in the new substrate company where they make on a weekly basis a total of 250 tons of substrate for the various breeds.
Currently they produce about 100 tonnes of which 40% is proprietary in their own business to breed ecotic mushrooms and 60% is sold to third parties.

A file photo of the elfin saddle mushroom. Photo: Jerzy Opioła via Wikimedia Commons

A rare type of fungus which has not been spotted in the Netherlands for almost 30 years has re-emerged in a nature reserve in Twente, according to website Nature Today.

The hooded false morel or the elfin saddle (gyromitra infula) is known as a ‘bishop’s mitre’ in Dutch and has been on the national ‘highly endangered’ list since 2008.

It has a dark reddish-brown cap which develops its distinctive saddle or mitre shape as the mushroom reaches maturity.  The fungi usually grow on rotting wood or on hard packed ground and are toxic unless cooked.

There have been just 12 reports of the fungi in the Netherlands in the last 100 years. The most recent was 29 years ago in the south of Noord-Brabant, Nature Today said.

A few years ago, trial Gastrodia cultivation implemented in 500 mu of land obtained its success in Wenge Village, Huxin District, Guizhou Province of China. After that, through repeated investigation, survey and demonstration, cultivation scale was eventually expanded.

Till now, area of Gastrodia base has been enlarged to over 1000 mu in Wenge Village and a district’s most advanced Gastrodia garden of artificial pollination has been built, annual sales reach hundreds of million CNY while 800 people are leaded to get jobs around their homes.

Not long ago, China Central Television specially reported on Qianxi County, Hebei Province of China in aspect of Chestnuts and Chestnut mushrooms. According to know, in recent years, local county government has been closely relying on resource advantages of Chestnut to comprehensively push the development of Chestnut mushroom industry.

Till now, Qianxi County has developed 25 mushroom factories, 16 mushroom cooperatives, 5 specialized mushroom companies, besides, annual output on stick of Chestnut mushroom and Chestnut mushroom respectively comes to 50 million bags and 10,000 tons while output value obtains 200 million CNY. Qianxi County also enjoys the good reputation of “The County of Chestnut Mushroom in China,” and “China’s Characteristic Town of Chestnut Mushroom.”  

In recent years, Dexing Village, Longxi County, Gansu Province of China has been closely embracing the mode of “Specialized cooperative+Base+Grower,” and positively pushing Shiitake industry.

With the fund support of 3.2 million CNY, 32 Shiitake greenhouses have been successively built and gross amount on stick comes to 440,000 bags. Besides, 14 tons of Shiitakes have been produced in two quarters of 2017 while sales income obtained above 800,000 CNY.

Recently, staffs working in Xinyuan Mushroom Cooperative of Jiyuan Village, Jinxi County, Jiangxi Province of China have been engaged with the arrangement of Black fungus sticks.

Jinxi County is one of China’s biggest characteristic agricultural counties, cultivation area on fruit trees of honey pear, orange, mulberry and others totals over 700,000 mu, above 500,000 tons of waste branches are abandoned per year, which provides a mass of raw ingredients for mushroom cultivation.

According to local agricultural department, every year, farmers fully utilize bamboo crumbs, saw dusts, straws, husks and other agricultural wastes to cultivate over 60 million bags of Shiitake, Black fungus and other mushrooms, average income obtains above 70,000 CNY per household. This kind of cultivation mode has also realized ecological and economic benefits.

At present, in workshop of Xinghe Company, rows of King oyster mushrooms are manifesting a magnificent scene.

Xinghe Biotechnology Co., LTD is a modernized agricultural enterprise that mainly engages in R&D, cultivation and marketing of King oyster mushroom and other mushroom varieties, it is one of listed companies in Xichong County, Sichuan Province of China.

Xinghe Company applies agricultural technological innovation during the process of mushroom production, agricultural straws are used as raw materials for mushroom production, waste residues are then utilized again as the fuels, which not only eliminates production costs, but also greatly reduces pollution caused by straw burning.

“Main ingredients for mushroom production refer to straws, corncobs and saw dusts in our company, during peak production period, daily fruiting volume comes to over 120 tons,” introduces one of technical staffs in Xinghe Company, going on that the whole process is non-pollution while implying intellectualized, ecological and natural mode.

Over the years, Xinghe Biotechnology Co., LTD has been pursuing a green road that highlights turning wastes into wealth, in the meanwhile, mushrooms produced from the company have been also successively exported to Vietnam and other oversea nations and favored by customers.