news-record.com

Farmers and gardeners interested in growing shiitake mushrooms as a business can attend a free workshop at N.C. A&T on Feb. 16.

The workshop will show participants how to inoculate logs with spawn and provide an opportunity to work with the university on growing mushrooms on a commercial basis. Participants must bring two freshly cut oak logs from live trees that measure four to eight inches in diameter and four feet long.

The university has worked with the N.C. Cooperative Extension to train farmers on a statewide basis for the past six years, said Omoanghe Isikhuemhen, an assistant professor in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. He said more than 300 farmers in North Carolina have received shiitake mushroom spawn from the university.

"Its popularity is growing," Isikhuemhen said.

A&T will supply free spawn to farmers who inoculate 200 logs on their property. Isikhuemhen said the university requires at least 200 logs because the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes that number as the minimum a farmer needs to be recognized as a commercial grower.

"We want them to get commercial," Isikhuemhen said. "We want them to get into growing and selling the mushrooms."

Shiitake is the mushroom variety of choice for the university because it is easy to grow, stores well and is popular for its medicinal properties, Isikhuemhen said. A farmer might only need to spend a couple hundred dollars on start-up costs for shiitake, versus thousands of dollars for portabello or other varieties. Growers don't need much land and could fit 1,000 inoculated logs on a quarter of a well-shaded acre, he said.

Isikhuemhen said his participating farmers earn at least $8 per pound selling shiitakes and he is developing methods to expand harvests from seasonal to year-round.

Nineteen people have signed up for the Feb. 16 class but the university has room for up to 60. A separate workshop will also take place on Feb. 25 at the Surry County Cooperative Extension.