Final report for ENE19-156
Project Information
Community Mushroom Educator program has grown and adapted over the course of the past three years -- providing the necessary mushroom cultivation knowledge to participants and a supportive community of like-minded educators. A core group of 10 participants in the CME program gained valuable experience co-teaching the following Small Farm courses: BF 151 Outdoor Mushroom Cultivation, BF 153 Indoor Mushroom Cultivation, and Farm School's Mushroom Cultivation course. In addition to gaining teaching experience, participants in the CME program coordinated their own events, developed their own "mini projects," participated in a mass inoculation event that supplied over 260 shiitake inoculated logs to community urban farms and gardens across the five boroughs, and helped host the largest Fungi Festival in NYC in late 2022.
Forty service providers demonstrate their improved knowledge and skills by each training at least 25 farmers (1000 total) on specialty mushroom production. Twelve educators achieve an advanced mushroom production certification and teach another 20 educators and 300 farmers.
USDA data shows a remarkable increase in demand for mushrooms; US per capita consumption of mushrooms was 2.7 pounds in 1978, but is now over 4 lbs. In 2016 and 2017, specialty mushroom (non-agaricus) sales have consistently increased at a rate of 4% per year (USDA), with overall mushroom sales in US increasing by over 15%. A 2015 Chatham University study interviewed 23 Northeastern buyers who reported needing 7,075 pounds of shiitake (307 lbs. per buyer) annually to fulfill customer demand, but only 2,060 pounds (29% of demand) of locally-produced shiitakes were available for purchase. Despite this demand, mushroom farming is not well established in the US, with only 229 farmers reporting growing specialty mushrooms, and both the number of growers and the production rates have been declining over the past three seasons (USDA). In the Northeast, only Cornell University offers detailed resources to assist new growers with technical and business expertise. We are overwhelmed with requests and unable to meet farmer demand. For instance, with recent funding from a USDA Specialty Crop Block grant, we have hosted ten workshops at multiple locations just in New York State focused on building an economically viable outdoor specialty mushroom operation. While we had originally targeted 75 growers as participants, 195 participated in 2017 and 281 participated in 2018. Since 2014, we have offered two online courses on cultivation that fill to capacity with a waitlist (90 farmers annually). Domestic production of specialty mushrooms, while more than doubling since 2010, is still substantially low. Because of high demand, we are only able as one agency to offer basic introductory materials, and some business support planning tools. To become a significant niche crop within US Agriculture, agencies, universities, and extension networks must actively collaborate to offer a more robust network that can support growers every step of their development. There are currently few service providers in the Northeast skilled in providing specialty mushroom producers with even the basic information to get started. Interested growers must search random online resources and engage in trial and error to get started in production. A recent survey of service providers received 38 responses with 51% of respondents indicating that demand for information on mushrooms was substantial or overwhelming, while 73% rated their ability to meet the demand with information to be fair or poor.
Mushrooms are a low-input and high output enterprise that offers a promising option for farmers, if only adequate resources and agricultural service providers existed to support the growth of the industry. This project aimed to develop a complete curriculum for specialty mushroom production along with a companion teacher’s manual that outlines workshop formats, key messages, and activities that educators can use to effectively teach specialty mushroom cultivation. Additionally, our educational team developed a process to train and certify mushroom educators, building a competent cohort of service providers from both rural and urban centers. This community of proficient educators is empowered to offer ongoing training and support, in contrast to the current few visiting “experts” that can facilitate introductory workshops only. The project offered service providers the knowledge and tools to be able to more confidently support farmers in decision making around specialty mushroom production.
In our experience, there are multiple questions at each level of experience from growers, such as:
- What specialty mushrooms can be grown outdoors versus indoors and what are the establishment costs and labor needs of each system?
- Can I incorporate mushroom production alongside other existing cropping systems?
- Where are the best markets for selling specialty mushrooms?
- How do farmers anticipate and address pest and disease problems?
Trained mushroom educators participating in the project are able to assist farmers in navigating these decision points and support farmers with research-based materials and a network of regional educators who can offer a variety of perspectives.
Farmer benefits: As indicated, mushrooms are a crop in very high demand, with little domestic production occurring in the Northeast. New farmers can enter open markets and find good returns, and existing farms can readily incorporate specialty mushroom production alongside their other crop systems. In an industry with tight margins, farmers are reluctant to adopt new crops or practices until they see others succeeding and when there is a well-developed support network of extension, university, and consultants advocating for a practice and offering support. As a competent network grows, more farms will be able to understand the possibilities and are likely to increase adoption of specialty mushroom production
Cooperators
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Educational Approach
Our approach to education was interdisciplinary, with individual study, group discussion, live and webinar workshop sessions, and individualized support for the 16 selected participants who demonstrated their potential for community level impact. A complete curriculum for specialty mushroom production along with a teacher’s manual was developed to facilitate transfer of the aspects of successful production, the initial draft has been completed by Ravi Ramaswamy in Winter 2019. In addition to the technical aspects of production, it was important that educators were trained and engaged in effective methods to improve how content is taught to support the needs of diverse communities. To this end, we used ‘Popular Education’ approaches (Freire 2018, Bender 1996, and Jeria 1990) — so that learning events were driven by the collective participant needs and solutions reflect the particular context that participants face. Networks focused on educator development to help develop a sense of connectivity and were a tool for exchanging best practices that improve the viability of the specialty mushroom industry as a whole. The methods we utilized emphasized that all participants have knowledge to share and that the collective experience of the group forms a valuable cohort that sustains for years beyond the term of this project. Ravi Ramaswamy has extensive experience with popular education and implemented this approach throughout the course of the project.
Milestones
Recruitment to participate.
500 agriculture service providers are informed of the project though the existing NE Beginning Farmer Learning Network, our provider list (585 contacts), websites, and social media (May-June 2019)
500
June 30, 2019
Completed
February 21, 2020
Promotional video: https://youtu.be/n9uI8gShxk0
Recruitment website: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/mushrooms/cme/
Newsletter: Harvest-NY-2nd-quarter-report
The following was the outreach plan for January 2020:
Sent Mushroom Grower List-serve Email Announcement/Press Release
Sent FarmSchool NYC Online Mushroom Course Announcement through both Farm School NYC newsletter & Google Group
Sent Announcement through COMFOOD, NYFC chapters & Harvest NY website
Sent Announcement through Grow NYC & Just Food email newsletter
Include Announcement in Harvest NY Growers Update & Harvest NY Urban Ag social media
Sent Announcement through CRAFT NYC 2019 & NYC Farm Alliance listserv
Sent Announcement through Cornell Small Farms email newsletter and printed quarterly
Sent Announcement through Mushroom meetups and Mycological Society
Sent Announcement through GreenThumb Events Guide
Sent Announcement through NYC Community Garden Coalition
The free and accessible materials on our website (41,387 pageviews for mushroom project), monthly webinar series (over 11k views), online courses (81 participants) and in person workshops (108 participants) reached thousands of people interested in specialty mushroom cultivation.
100 participate in informational webinars (July-September 2019)
100
35
167
September 30, 2019
Completed
November 19, 2019
2019 Mushroom Webinar Series-The Cornell Small Farms Program and Harvest NY CCE hosted a webinar series focused on specialty mushroom farming enterprises, highlighting the latest research and stories from experienced growers around the region. The webinar was held from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST. Each webinar is also recorded and posted for later viewing on the Cornell Small Farms Program’s YouTube channel. A total of 167 viewers participated in seven webinars throughout 2019.
|
Date |
Presenters |
Description |
Participation |
|
May 1st, 2019
|
Steve Gabriel and Renee Jacobson |
Specialty Mushrooms in the US and Oyster on Coffee Research—This webinar will include an overview of the project and available resources from extension specialists Steve Gabriel and Yolanda Gonzalez (CCE Harvest NY). Additionally, Renee Jacobson from Firefly Farm of Hornby, NY, will present results from a farmer grant she conducted trialing oyster cultivation on coffee grounds and sawdust. |
23 Participants |
|
June 5th, 2019
|
Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez, William Padilla Brown |
Specialty Mushroom Project Info and Mycosymbiotics- Learn about how our www.CornellMushrooms.org project will train new mushroom educators from Yolanda Gonzalez (CCE Harvest NY) and conduct production research to develop budget tools from Steve Gabriel (Small Farms). In the second half, we will hear from William Padilla-Brown of Mycosymbiotics, who forages, teaches, and grows many mushrooms in many forms, focusing on the connections to healing people and planet. http://mycosymbiotics.wordpress.com/ (Specifically related to SARE Grant) |
40 Participants |
|
July 3rd 2019 |
Steve Gabriel and Gina Gohl |
Food Safety and Mushroom Farming in Nepal- We will share considerations for the safe harvesting and handling of mushrooms on the farm from Steve Gabriel (Small Farms) as well as the state and federal regulations those selling mushrooms need to consider from Yolanda Gonzalez (CCE Harvest NY). For the second half we will hear from Gina Gohl about the food security initiative in Peace Corps Nepal, including why mushrooms are part of food security initiative, info on consumption, methods of production, and challenges faced by mushrooms producers in Nepal. |
26 Participants |
|
August 7th, 2019 |
Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez, and Jesse Marksohn |
Mushrooms solving problems in Urban and Rural communities and Low Impact Outdoor Mushroom Farming-- During our August webinar, learn about the ways mushroom can help solve complex social and environmental challenges facing both Urban and Rural communities from Yolanda Gonzalez of CCE Harvest NY and Steve Gabriel with the Cornell Small Farms Program. During the second half we will explore the efficacy of low impact outdoor mushroom farming with Jesse Marksohn of Fungal Forest. Jesse will gloss over some of environmental impacts of conventional specialty mushroom farming, the experiences and mentors that allowed his methods to form, and how this system could be improved upon and replicated. |
14 Participants |
|
September 4th, 2019 |
Steve Gabriel and Willie Crosby |
Options for Profitable Specialty Mushroom Production and NE SARE Grant Overview-- During the September webinar, we will cover the possibilities for profitable indoor cultivation including oysters on straw, ready-to-fruit blocks indoors, and ready-to-fruit blocks outdoors (you can make your own blocks or buy them in from a supplier). Join Small Farms Steve Gabriel and Willie Crosby from Fungi Ally to discuss the differences and learn about the launch of our new video series along with a NESARE grant that enables us to support a new crop of mushroom growers through education, one-on-one consulting, and economic data collection efforts. (Specifically related to SARE Grant) |
18 Participants |
|
October 2nd, 2019 |
Trad Cotter |
Tradd Cotter Mon Seminar Talk- In partnership with our FARM OPS program supporting veterans in agriculture, join us for this special evening presentation LIVE with Tradd Cotter of Mushroom Mountain. Tradd will overview the medicinal aspects of mushrooms for a wide range of health benefits, and will specifically highlight the latest research to safely administer fungi in the treatment of trauma and PTSD. |
22 Participants |
|
November 19th, 2019 |
Faith Gilbert and Steve Gabriel |
Financial Planning for Mushrooms--The topic of financial planning for mushroom enterprises will be covered with our mushroom project specialist, Steve Gabriel, and Faith Gilbert of Letterbox Farm Collective. Review the basics of building an enterprise budget, and discover how mushrooms can fit within a larger whole farm plan. |
24 Participants |
75 service providers apply to participate in the training and 60 are accepted (October-December 2019). We will be asking applicants who are interested in delivering direct mushroom education and who can identify audiences who they will be directly serving. In addition, we will be asking applicants to commit to participating in one of the three 2-day trainings in Albany, NYC, and Baltimore, as well as pre-course work. We will work to recruit this diverse cohort of both urban and rural educators by tapping into the wide-reaching networks of project partners.
75
166
December 31, 2019
Completed
February 21, 2020
The timeline for the Community Mushroom Educator (CME) Training application process shifted from October- December 2019 to January-April 2020. In the months of October through December 2019 the project team has created the website description, finalized the promotional video, application, and the following timeline:
Week of January 6th 2020: Press Release
January 10th 2020: Applications open
January 28th: Informational Webinar
February 21st 2020: Application deadline
April 6th 2020: Notification of Acceptance
April 23rd - December 3rd, 2020: 2020 CME Program (see below for schedule of events)
In early January 2020 the applications closed and the project team began to craft a criteria worksheet and a scoring sheet for a team of 12 reviewers from the urban farming community and mushroom industry to review and score applications. We received 166 applications and had originally planned to accept 60 people for the online training and in person training sessions (estimating 20 participants per session). Given the large number of applications, we increased the total amount of accepted participants to 76 and in early April CME participants were notified of their acceptance.
We opened applications on January 10th, 2020 and closed them on February 17th. Our target was to get 75 applications and accept 60 people into the program. With 2,747 views in the reporting period of the CME project page received 166 applicants from 14 states (we limited the pool to Northeast states) with affiliations of over 200 non-profit, farm, and community garden organizations. 57% of applicants indicated this professional development would be part of their professional duties. Over 56% who applied self-identified as non-white (15.4% Black, 11.5% Latinx, 8.1% Asian, 21.5% mixed race or other identity) and 30.3% indicate they speak a language other than English at home, with over 20 languages represented. A diverse team of 10
educators and partners reviews and scored applications in February and March, and near the end of March we accepted 76 people into the program, with a majority self identified as non-white. (18% Black, 11.8% Latinx, 9.3% Asian, 11.8% mixed). Due to COVID related fallout and challenges, about half (35) were able to actively maintain participation in the training.
Pre-training engagement.
60 trainees clarify goals for promoting specialty mushrooms and explore popular education models through three team-led webinars, reading, and reflection. (April- June 2020)
60
70
June 30, 2020
Completed
May 14, 2020
CME Participants had access to previous recordings from the Cornell Small Farms BF 151 - Woodland Mushroom Cultivation and the BF 153 - Indoor Specialty Mushroom Cultivation Course starting from the last two weeks in April throughout the year. The new curriculum portion of the CME program started June 4th and was designed with input from the surveys on what students were interested in learning about and the best way to stay connected as a cohort. The cohort expressed that regular check-ins on special topics would be help keep them engaged and connected.
Each of the 60 service providers completes a pre-course knowledge self-assessment and surveys their audience about educational needs using a survey provided by the project team. (April- June 2020)
60
48
June 30, 2020
Completed
December 03, 2020
A post-knowledge assessment was conducted in December 2020.
As demonstrated in the graph below, 35 out of the 48 participants of the survey responded "Yes, a lot" to the question "Did the program expand your knowledge and ability to educate others about mushroom cultivation." Another 10 out of 48 participants of the survey responded "Yes, some" and 5 out of 48 participants responded "Yes, a little bit."
In 2020 and 2021, due to the transition to online programming, many CMEs reported not feeling confident to host their own events given that they did not experience the hands on portion of the training that was planned to take place before the pandemic, therefore hosting events and collecting data was not a major focus for these past two years.
Learning through the education program.
60 rural and urban educators across the Northeast attend one of three 2-day trainings in Albany, NYC, and Baltimore. They pass knowledge quizzes in four main competency areas: Mycology 101, Cultivation Best Practices, Production Economics, and Teaching with Popular Education. Participants receive forms and a spreadsheet for recording contact and demographic information for the farmers they consult with throughout the project. (July- Dec. 2020)
60
December 03, 2020
Completed
December 03, 2020
The Project Team originally set out to carry out this project as a hybrid model of online instruction and in-person training sessions set to happen in NYC, Albany, and Philadelphia. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, we have adapted the program to be 100% online for 2020. Moving forward, the in-person component may be re-introduced as circumstances shift and it becomes safe to do so.
The following is a timeline of the Community Mushroom Educator Program in 2020, including the intensive pre-course work, curriculum and Q&A webinars and guest speakers. A total of 42.5 hours of content was created and posted on a teaching platform called Teachable for the CME participants to access for future reference.
Videos related to the CME program can be found on our Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/jiwSnvzYOig
The entire educational manual will be published by the of 2022, both in English and Spanish.
|
Date |
Presenters |
Description |
|
April 23th, 2020 |
William Padilla Brown |
Expert Grower Webinar (1hr): William Padilla-Brown of Mycosymbiotics, who forages, teaches, and grows many mushrooms in many forms, focusing on the connections to healing people and planet. participant info N/A http://mycosymbiotics.wordpress.com/ |
|
April 30th, 2020 |
Jie Jin |
Expert Grower Webinar (1 hr): Jie is a mushroom grower and founder of Curiouseed, an education studio that inspires nature awareness through playful, experimental, and hands-on experiences with fungi. Her work explores accessible mushroom cultivation techniques for community resilience and soil regeneration, and has offered her a unique pathway to reconnect with her Chinese heritage. participant info N/A |
|
May 7th, 2020 |
Willie Crosby |
Expert Grower Webinar (1hr): Willie Crosby is the owner of Fungi Ally, a mushroom spawn and education business based in MA. Willie has been growing and teaching about mushrooms for 7 years through universities, workshops, grants, and online classes. participant info N/A |
|
May 14th, 2020 |
Olga Tzogas |
Expert Grower Webinar (1hr): Olga Tzogas and her journey with Fungi and plants started over ten years ago. In 2011, Smugtown Mushrooms was started, which provides, cultivation supplies to grow mushrooms, indoors or outdoors, for food or for medicine.- participant info N/A |
|
June 4th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
How we learn new skills Q &A (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
June 11th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
How to Grow Curriculum (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
June 18th, 2020 |
Will Padilla Brown |
Guest Speaker (1.5 hrs): Will Padilla Brown “Growing Mushrooms in Your Kitchen”- participant info N/A |
|
June 25th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
How to Grow Curriculum 2 (1.5 hrs)- 19 people |
|
July 9th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Community Economies Q &A (1.5 hrs)- 17 participants |
|
July 16th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
How to Sell Curriculum 1 (1.5 hrs)- 19 participants |
|
July 23th, 2020 |
Olivia Watkins |
Guest Speaker (1.5 hrs): Olivia Watkins “Land Legacy and Shiitake Agroforestry”- participant info N/A |
|
July 30th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
How to Sell Curriculum 2 (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
August 6th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Solving Community Challenges Q &A” (1.5 hrs)- 21 participants |
|
August 13th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Q&A about kits (1.5 hrs)- 15 participants |
|
August 20th, 2020 |
Alex Dorr |
Guest Speaker (1.5 hrs): Alex Dorr “Breaking down mycoremediation”- participant info N/A |
|
August 27th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Popular Education 1 (1.5 hrs)- 21 people |
|
Sept. 3rd, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Popular Education 2 (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
Sept. 10th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
(Project Work) Q&A Brainstorm (1.5 hrs)- 16 participants |
|
Sept. 24th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
CME Class Share Out (1.5 hrs) -participant info N/A |
|
Oct. 8th 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
CME Class Share Out (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
Nov. 12th 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
CME Class Share Out (1.5 hrs)- participant info N/A |
|
Dec. 3th, 2020 |
Steve Gabriel, Ravi Ramaswamy, and Yolanda Gonzalez |
Final 2020 CME Q&A Meetup (1.5 hrs) - 13 participants |
|
|
|
|
At the end of the 2020 CME Program, participants had the following comments to say:
"I basically started the course very excited about mushrooms but with very little knowledge about them apart from basic things like mycelial networks and a bit of anatomy (and how awesome they are!) So everything from morphology to growing indoors and outdoors to marketing––all of it was new
and I've learned so much in the past few months!"
"I gained enough knowledge about growing mushroom indoors and in the garden to give a presentation. My knowledge, skills and confidence regarding mushrooms all grew because of this class."
"I knew very little about mushroom cultivation, and this course was packed with a ton of excellent information."
"The program is fantastic and the team really thought it through for folks to learn and share. I unfortunately could not take advantage of all the teachings as I would have wanted. I do appreciate having the access to the materials and I plan to get back to it."
The CME program was continued in 2021 through a series of online meetups, a research trial partnership with North Spore and an in-person mass inoculation event.
| Date | presenters | description |
| Jan 28th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME Meetup - 8 participants |
| February 25th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME Meetup - 15 participants |
| March 25th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME Meetup - participant info N/A |
| April 17th, 2021 | Aysha and Amanda | Building Community with Fungi |
| April 28th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME Meetup - 5 participants |
| May 26th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME Meetup with North Spore- 23 participants |
| June 16th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | Discussion with Mario Ceballos from POC Fungi (16) participants & 116 views on Youtube (as of Aug. 2021) |
| June 23rd, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | CME meetup with Lori “Making Fungi Fun and Accessible for Youth" - 8 participants |
| July 24th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | Kick off ‘Learn to Grow Mushrooms’ Workshop at the Hudson River Maritime Museum as part of the Shiitake Mushroom Logs Headed to NYC |
| July 30th, 2021/ July 31st 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | “Upstate Logs Set Sail to NYC Mushroom Growers” - 25 participants on 7/30 and 26 participants on 7/31 |
| August 18th, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | Book Discussion: Doug Bierend "In Search of Mycotopia" - 28 participants |
| Sept. 22nd, 2021 | Steve Gabriel, Yolanda Gonzalez | “Increasing Access to Mushroom Cultivation”- 22 participants |
60 service providers receive a survey 3 months after they receive training to assess if further support is needed and reinforce commitment to teach farmers. (Mar. 2021)
60
18
March 31, 2021
Completed
October 27, 2022
From the original CME group, 17 participants actively participated in the CME training program since it has been modified to be an online training. Active participation included regularly attended the virtual meetups, hosting their own events, completing the mini project assignment, co-teaching courses, attending the inoculation event, and participating in the North Spore trial.
16 participants (8 urban, 8 rural) continue to advanced level mushroom education throughout 2021 by: a) participating in one in-person event and five online meetings; b) teaching mini-lessons (such as teaching the mushroom life cycle, inoculating a bed with wine cap mushrooms or teaching their community how to inoculate shiitake logs) within our existing online mushroom cultivation courses, gaining practice and reaching 90 farmers; and c) completing two mushroom related electives such as visiting local farms and engaging with mushroom production in their local communities through activities that are self-determined as appropriate including for example volunteer workdays, site visits and further educational opportunities. In 2022, we had an additional cohort of 21 new advanced educators, totally 30 from 9 in 2021.
16
30
December 31, 2021
Completed
October 27, 2022
In total 30 CME's have received advanced training through Cornell Small Farm courses and Farm School NYC, below is more information that describes their role:
- Live and grow in both rural and urban locations who are committed to community-based teaching
- Engage with community organizations, farm, and community gardens
- Speak multiple languages and can offer bi-lingual trainings, especially in Spanish.
- Work for farming non-profits supporting women, refugee, and people of color in agriculture
- Are enthusiastic about growing mushrooms, and excited to share with others!
Each of the 16 advanced-level trainees organizes and hosts one hands-on cultivation event for farmers with support from an experienced lead instructor (Spring; Summer 2021). The educators will be incentivized to gain more hands-on teaching practice through a materials budget for workshops and ongoing mentorship from project partners. Upon completion of all requirements, 12 successful participants become certified as lead instructors.
15
30
September 30, 2021
Completed
October 27, 2022
Information about the five events organized by CMEs are included in Milestone 13
Engagement to support follow-up action.
The 60 initial course trainees, including the 12 certified educators, officially become first cohort of NE network of mushroom educators. Certified educators report back to larger group through webinars sharing their experience and how they have applied what they have learned to the wider community. (Fall - Winter 2021)
60
27
December 31, 2021
Completed
October 31, 2022
The CMEs that participated in the advanced training participated in the following events:
Sept. 22nd “Increasing Access to Mushroom Cultivation”- CME's identify techniques and practices that are easy to try out with materials already on hand and/or low cost -- 22 participants attended
Sept. 25th - In-person gathering at Kelly Street Garden-- 5 participants attended
All participants will receive ongoing support to use and transfer their learning and ensure collection of data on the provided forms via quarterly emails and two check-in calls, one at the beginning of the season and another toward the end. (ongoing to Dec. 2021)
60
December 31, 2021
Completed
October 27, 2022
CME participants reached out periodically to get one-on-one support from project leaders, Yolanda Gonzalez and Steve Gabriel throughout 2021.
Verification of actions or changes.
40 of 60 service providers report increasing their knowledge and confidence in offering support for specialty mushroom production, as evidenced by the difference in scoring from pre and post- training self-assessment (2019 and 2020).
40
48
December 31, 2020
Completed
October 27, 2022
Information collected from the pre and post assessment are included in Milestone 5.
In the final year of the project, 40 of the 60 service providers respond to a follow-up survey and report on their actions teaching or advising farmers. (Dec. 2021).
40
48
December 31, 2021
Completed
October 27, 2022
A survey was conducted in December 2020 to assess the overall program and gather information on events that have been organized by CME's. The following events were reported:
| Participant | Event | Attendance Info |
| Robert Beard | April 2020 Shiitake workshop at Albany Victory Gardens | 20 attended |
| Michael Shane Nuckols and sue Gwise | Jan. 16th 2021 | 10 attended |
| Marina Delgado | Fall 2020- Mushroom class + experiment with Biobus | 9 attended |
| Aysha Venjara (Falaha Center) | Nov. 7th, 2020 | 8 attended |
| Joe Gregoire | Feb 9th, 2021 | 24 attended |
The 12 certified educators participate in exit interviews to share insights on their own progression and provide insights to improve the curriculum. Eight of these educators develop new curriculum resources, such as videos or new production techniques (Dec 2021 – March 2022).
12
9
May 31, 2022
Completed
October 27, 2022
As listed on the Cornell Small Farms page, the following list of Community Mushroom Educators have been certified as lead instructors:
Current Community Mushroom Educators
Cecilia De La Fuente
Marina Delgado
Sneha Ganguly
Amanda Heidel, Mushroom Shed, www.mushroomshed.us
Jie Jin, CuriousSeed, www.curiouseed.com
Renee Keitt. Kelly St Garden + New Roots Farm
Leigh Ollman
Aysha Venjara, Falaha Center for Spiritual Agriculture, www.falahacenter.org
Erinn White
Milestone Activities and Participation Summary
Educational activities and events conducted by the project team:
A partnership between the Cornell Small Farms Program, Woodsman Forest Products, Schooner Apollonia, Hudson River Maritime Museum, RETI Center, and Red Hook Community Farms is piloting the carbon-neutral transport of logs from upstate forests to community farms and gardens in New York City. https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/mushrooms/logs-to-nyc-project/
Participants in the project’s educational activities:
Learning Outcomes
We consistently evaluated progress throughout the training, with mini assessments and evaluations. At the end of each cohort we requested written feedback, and asked two of the same questions both times, with percentage of participants answering YES as very high:
Did the program expand your knowledge and ability to educate others about mushroom cultivation? (ANSWER YES, A LOT) 69.40% (2020) 71.40% (2022)
Are you able to better serve your community as a result of this program? (ANSWER: YES) 80% (2020) 100% (2022)
The best way to demonstrate change in knowledge, attitudes, and skills comes in sharing our participants reflections, in their own words:
I definitely feel more comfortable around the vocabulary of mushroom cultivation and explaining the different stages of growth in more layman's terms. I also feel like the class gave me the basic building blocks/materials needed for cultivation, but exposed me to the different avenues I could go down, depending on the materials, space and time I had access to. The class gave me some good parameters within which I could experiment.
It gave me the confidence I needed to be more impactful in facilitating workshops. In the past, I did not feel confident because much of my learning was sort of "learning as I went" and in group facilitation, I served as more of a support role to other mushroom educators. I feel more confident now leading groups.
The course expanded my understanding of mushroom basics from a basic basidiomycete life cycle and identification to their production (indoor/outdoor, pre/post-harvest) to the industry and the various niches. Presentations on mycoremediation, fungal based paper, mycomaterials, and art/sculpture were inspiring. Although much of what was presented in Popular Education was seemed natural or similar to practices used in music therapy, it was beneficial to be oriented to it and how to facilitate from that place.
It gave good examples of how to teach a mushroom growing program (Specifically for Shiitake) and gave me the biological understanding of how mushrooms grow. It also gave great info that I can teach about how to harvest, store and market mushrooms
The program is fantastic and the team really thought it through for folks to learn and share. I unfortunately could not take advantage of all the teachings as I would have wanted. I do appreciate having the access to the materials and I plan to get back to it.
I gained enough knowledge about growing mushroom indoors and in the garden to give a presentation. My knowledge, skills and confidence regarding mushrooms all grew because of this class.
They all brought so many new ideas. The tone of the sessions was perfect. You all created a safe space for all of us. I really appreciated it.
Such a wide breadth of information. Hearing about people from their projects / inspiring directions. Advice from people who are experienced with mushroom cultivation and mushroom uses -- so helpful. So grateful for all of the resources provided! I've been away but soon to be rooting and excited to integrate them and continue my learning.
"The CME program helped me feel more confident in educating my community on mushroom-related topics such as mycology basics, cultivation techniques, and uses of fungi. I cannot wait to begin implementing what I learned!"
I'm a better educator across the board thanks to the CME program's modelling of facilitation techniques and community education models. I am especially grateful for the ways that the CME program fosters a community of peer educators and helped me grow in my mushroom knowledge and offered me the inspiration to continue sharing my love of fungi within my community!
This course changed my approach to teaching. I entered not knowing how to teach at all. I have gained the skills and confidence to share what I have learned with my community. This course changed my perspective and I am so grateful to all the amazing instructors who made it fun, flexible and supportive! Life changing!!!!!!
The CME program helped me gain the basic information and confidence to delve deeper into mycology, and afforded me resources and networking to expand my knowledge to share with others.
The CME program provided countless "spores" of mushroom/fungal insights and guided me to on how to best share that with my community.
The CME program has helped me better understand the garden as a whole. I have worked with plants and animals for years, now I think about fungi too!
The CME program helped me put together a mushroom class that was appealing to a diverse group of learners.
Performance Target Outcomes
Performance Target Outcomes - Service Providers
Target #1
40
Forty service providers demonstrate their improved knowledge and skills by each training at least 25 farmers (1000 total) on specialty mushroom production within the first year.
1000
small to medium
70
645
small to medium
Target #2
12
Twelve educators achieve an advanced mushroom production certification and teach another 20 educators and 300 farmers.
300
small to medium
30
645
small to medium
- 38 Curricula, factsheets and other educational tools
- 5 Consultations
- 10 On-farm demonstrations
- 2 Online trainings
- 3 Published press articles/newsletters
- 12 Webinars/talks/presentations
- 10 Workshops/field days
We used the following performance target verification methods and tools: CME application, pre and post knowledge assessment, mini class evaluation held online, feedback surveys at the end of each cohort and the educational programming survey. What we learned is that it was important to clarify the requirements to obtain certification, which was highly valued by the CMEs. The following were the benchmarks to obtain a certificate: 1) make an educational material 2) deliver an educational event and report back on it 3) complete online content. We outnumbered both of our performance targets, which was originally 40 service providers and have ended the grant with a final total of 70 and we originally set a target of 12 advanced educators and now have 30 educators who obtained a certificate.
Of the responses we received from participants, we received a range of data and qualitative feedback. Our most precise measure was a pre and post knowledge assessment that provided questions in four topic areas: 1) Mycology 101, 2) Cultivation, 3) Markets, and 4) Popular Education. Each section had 5 - 8 questions where participants ranked their knowledge as 1 (little or none) to 5 (a lot). These numbers were averaged for each section and then plotted as a pre (blue) and post (red) dataset. The graphs below show the substantial knowledge change, represented by almost unanimous increase between the Pre and Post responses for each participant:
Performance Target Outcomes - Farmers
Target #1
1000
Increase mushroom production
small to medium
645
small to medium
It was a challenge to obtain reporting data from the service providers, let alone their audience. This was in large part due to the nature of the online/virtual trainings, as opposed to the original plan of conducting in person trainings where the evaluation piece could have been further explained in depth. It took two cohorts to collect verifiable information and that was only once we solidified the certification process.
Additional Project Outcomes
Summer Series Mushroom Workshop Evaluation Results 2019_Learning Outcomes
Summer Series Mushroom Workshop Evaluation Results 2019
In the summer of 2019, Cornell Small Farms and Harvest NY CCE coordinated a series of workshops at Isabahlia Farms, Red Hook Farm, and Kelly St. Community Garden. Participants learned to inoculate a shiitake log, grow oysters on straw, and plant wine cap in wood chips. The evaluations are a tool to assess baseline knowledge and experience before and after each workshop, to determine how learning has changed among all agricultural service providers. 51 participants completed evaluations for all workshops.
Pre-course Evaluations
|
What drew you to learn about mushrooms? |
|||||
|
Consumption |
Health/Medicine |
Sell |
History/Culture |
Curious |
Other |
|
65% |
47% |
47% |
16% |
80% |
0% |
|
What experience do you have growing mushrooms? |
|||||
|
Buy/Cook |
Foraging |
Outdoor Grow |
Indoor Grow |
Class/Books |
Other |
|
80% |
20% |
10% |
12% |
24% |
0% |
What is your current knowledge?
|
I know some |
I know a little |
I know nothing |
|
12% |
57% |
31% |
In what ways do you intend to use information about mushroom cultivation?
|
Grow for self |
Sell |
Teach Others |
Not Sure |
Other |
|
71% |
37% |
53% |
31% |
0% |
Where would you like to grow mushrooms?
|
Garden |
Farm |
Inside home |
Inside Building |
Not Sure |
Other |
|
51% |
45% |
49% |
27% |
25% |
2% |
Post-course Evaluations
Knowledge Change (Out of 51)
|
I learned a lot |
I learned a little |
I learned some |
I learned nothing |
|
69% |
4% |
25% |
2% |
What mushrooms or methods can you see doing again in the future? (Out of 51)
|
Shiitake Logs |
Oyster Straw |
Wine Cap |
Almond Agaricus |
Other |
|
67% |
80% |
84% |
16% |
6% |
What barriers or challenges do you have in producing mushrooms? (Out of 51)
|
Materials |
Time |
Cost |
Place |
Learn More |
Other |
|
18% |
22% |
10% |
35% |
29% |
Access to mycelium Travel means my schedule is tough to control Not sure yet No barriers Organization Practice Mold/humuidity log source molds |
Other activities by participants
In addition to gaining teaching experience, participants in the CME program coordinated their own events, developed their own "mini projects," participated in a mass inoculation event that supplied over 260 shiitake inoculated logs to community urban farms and gardens across the five boroughs, and helped host the largest Fungi Festival in NYC in late 2022.
Shiitake Mushroom Logs Headed to NYC via the sailboat Schooner Apollonia
A partnership between the Cornell Small Farms Program, Woodsman Forest Products, Schooner Apollonia, Hudson River Maritime Museum, RETI Center, and Red Hook Community Farms is piloting the carbon-neutral transport of logs from upstate forests to community farms and gardens in New York City.
https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/mushrooms/logs-to-nyc-project/
Overall the co-facilitation approach using popular education was a successful method, we attracted a large interest and outperformed the original amount that we estimated. Community Mushroom Educators (CMEs) participated in a wide variety of programming, including the online courses, in-person workshops and individual projects, going above and beyond what was required for the certificate. The ability to compensate CMEs also played a role in the success of the program as well. Additionally, we were able to attract and maintain a large network of diverse individuals with varying demographics, background, skills, and knowledge levels. The main limitations were lacking opportunities for hands-on training throughout the Northeast, beyond New York City and not having the opportunity to develop cohesion within each of the cohorts, which would naturally lead to more active engagement outside of scheduled activities.