How Sustainable is the Mushroom Industry?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock like some of our favorite fungi, you’ll know that sustainability has been of key concern in recent years. Why should you be concerned with sustainability? Resources on the earth are finite, and sustainability practices enable us to live in harmony with the natural world.
Specifically, a sustainable product is one where the manufacturing of the product does not necessarily decrease the amount of finite resources available to create that product. A great example would be a sustainable forest. In this instance, the trees grow at the same or greater rate than they are harvested (i.e. cut down), meaning that the forest does not diminish in size or the amount of material it outputs over time. Since we make our snacks out of mushrooms, we’ll talk about that now: how sustainable is the mushroom industry?
Mushrooms Grow in Recycled Material
Mushrooms are actually considered to be one of the most sustainable foods on the planet. Mushrooms are often grown in recycled natural materials such as straw, chicken litter, brewers’ grain, corn cobs, and many other leftovers or byproducts that we have no other good use for, except as composting materials. These materials are used as the substrate, or soil, that mushrooms grow in. By using these products that would otherwise go to waste to grow mushrooms, we end up with less agricultural waste in our landfills.
Mushrooms Grow Quickly
Americanmushroom.org states that “the growth cycle of a mushroom crop in the growing room is just 6-10 weeks, so each mushroom farm can produce as many as 8 crops per year.” This means that mushrooms are one of the highest yield and crop turnover food products produced on the planet. Additionally, much of the equipment used to grow mushrooms is cleaned and reused, lessening their carbon footprint even further.
Mushrooms Grow in Large Quantities
In 2017 on just one square mile of grow space, 891 million pounds of mushrooms were produced and sold in the US. Due to how quickly mushrooms grow and how many can be produced in a small amount of space, mushrooms are considered one of the leading crops in terms of production efficiency, which leads to the next point.
Very Little Energy is Needed to Grow Mushrooms
Because mushrooms are grown primarily indoors, this leads mushroom farmers to be very sensible about the amount of resources, such as water, that they use and recycle. You will typically find that a lot of effort goes into producing these fungal friends as frugally as possible. This is good for the farmer, but also good for the environment.
Pop Open a Bag of Popadelics
Mushrooms are a sustainable food, and now with Popadelics, also a tasty, crunchy treat. Whether you’re relaxing at home or on-the-go, you’ll fall in love with the delectable flavors of our crunchy mushroom chips, including Twisted Thai Chili, Trippin’ Truffle Parm, and Rad Rosemary + Salt. Pre-order your Popadelics Crunchy Mushroom Chips now at Popadelics.com.
