Mission
The mission of this USDA-funded program, the Western Mushroom Research Network (WMRN), is to build a collaborative research network among academic and industry partners that will advance a growing mushroom industry with trained professionals through relevant production research.
Our focus is to provide needed academic research for commercial mushroom production in the western US, which to date has not been well-represented but is growing rapidly in response to local industry. We wish to increase collaborations with industry partners to advance ongoing research and to coordinate our research efforts to promote continued growth of the mushroom industry.
Vision
The vision of the WMRN has three main components: 1) to improve the efficiency of specialty mushroom production; 2) to increase specialty mushroom production across the region in both large-and small-scale operations; and 3) to help expand specialty mushroom markets regionally. These long-term goals are in alignment with those of the Mushroom Council and the American Mushroom Institute, which seek to promote the mushroom industry and mushroom markets across the US.
To realize our vision, The WMRN has three specific objectives with both immediate and long-term impact: 1) to provide to the commercial mushroom industry an overview of the people and institutions in the Western US that are conducting research on commercial mushroom production, 2) to provide a summary of the kinds of research that are underway at these institutions and the objectives of their research programs, 3) to expand the dialogue between academic researchers and industry to ensure academic research is targeting closely the immediate and long-term needs of the industry.
Images: Justin O'Dea, Washington State University
Industry Needs Assessment
The WMRN is focused on the critical research identified by mushroom industry collaborators in the western United States through industry surveys and stakeholder conversations during the development and implementation of this USDA-supported program. Preliminary industry needs were assessed through surveys during extension activities targeting large and small growers in Arizona and California, from direct conversations with prominent commercial producers in AZ, CA, OK, and WA, and from consumers during outreach events. Interestingly, each group responded with different needs that would impact industry production and market expansion.
Industry needs assessed varied depending on the size of production operation; small producers responded with needs relating to training (e.g. workshops, extension publications, accessible web content) and resources to assist the development and expansion of their businesses. Large producers responded with different critical needs relating to increasing efficiencies of operation such as more cost-effective novel substrates for growth, more efficient use of energy and materials across different production platforms, GAP recommendations, and the opportunity to re-purpose spent substrate.
Major common needs between multiple mushroom producers were 1) to increase production efficiency in a way that reduces manual labor demand, 2) increased access to a wider array of mushroom strains to better fit production needs, and 3) to build network connections with mushroom researchers and industry in Asia and Europe for improved information exchange on advancements in mushroom production.