Progress report for SW22-943
Project Information
Public research and education programs have been pivotal in adapting traditional Japanese forest-cultivated mushroom (FCM) production systems to the eastern US. Notwithstanding, Pacific Northwest (PNW) researchers are in an incipient stage of generating information to support regional adoption of FCM systems, despite exceptionally high stakeholder demands for Extension programming and a favorable production and market context in the western PNW. These systems are scale-appropriate to diversified farm operations and small-acreage farm startups; equipment, infrastructure, capital, acreage, and input demands are all relatively low for an agricultural enterprise. They are likewise resource-use efficient and do not compete with other crops for existing farmland by producing a food product from PNW forestland. These uncommonly low barriers-to-entry increase potential for grower adoption, and notably also provide important, feasible opportunities for many PNW farms being pushed to diversify and concentrate production as a result of urbanization.
In 2019, WSU Extension began the first University-based research on the commercial viability of FCM systems in the PNW. Results to-date indicate that shiitake mushrooms produced in appropriately-managed PNW FCM systems may yield on-par or greater than those reported from other regions where these systems have become established as feasible enterprise options for diversified farms and startups. This project proposes objectives that 1) further refine PNW FCM systems for commercial production via trials of management innovations and production options, 2) bolster FCM production innovation via network-building with contemporary FCM production information in Japan, and 3) poise the project to precipitate direct impacts on small and diversified farm businesses via. direct mentorship of FCM system establishment, training of peer-mentors, and inciting a grower network in the western PNW.
The proposed project takes a unique approach to facilitating rapid regional adoption diffusion, and to jumpstarting research-based FCM management innovations and region-specific course-corrections through insights gained from FCM system advancements in Japan that have become increasingly obscure to domestic FCM producers over the last 30-40 years. Successful refinement of these systems could incite a cascade of yet-untapped production and market opportunity for farms, local food systems, and attendant mushroom production supply and value-added processor businesses in the PNW.
R1) Assess longer-term estimates of shiitake mushroom yield with Pacific Northwest (PNW)-refined management approaches to inform yield expectations and enterprise budgets.
R2) Assess interactions between shiitake strains and PNW-sourced substrates to inform annual expectations from full-season yields.
R3) Assess two shiitake inoculation rates, forced-fruiting patterns, and log moisture management for effects on spawn run and yield to inform labor budgets.
R4) Establish screening trials for assessing 5 strains of oyster mushrooms and 7 other promising species mushrooms for their potential to be grown commercially within PNW forest-cultivated mushroom (FCM) system.
E1) Mentor ten PNW farmers in FCM production for direct project impact and to support their development as peer mentors supporting further PNW FCM business development.
E2) Establish a Mushroom Growers Network as a base supporting future grower adoption and new FCM business opportunities.
E3) Train a team of researchers in contemporary FCM research and production system management to support FCM growth and production viability.
E4) Connect PNW growers with advancements in commercial FCM production in Japan to help incite regional FCM innovation.
E5) Disseminate advancements in the FCM system knowledge base at educational events to incite grower adoption in the PNW.
E6) Produce Extension materials on commercial FCM as a resource supporting future grower adoption.
Project Timeline Gantt Chart: WSARE Mushroom timeline 2.2023
Cooperators
- (Educator and Researcher)
- - Producer
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- - Producer
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
- - Producer
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- - Producer
- (Educator and Researcher)
- - Producer
- - Producer
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- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
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Research
Original proposed research objectives-
THE FIGURES AND TABLES ATTACHMENTS FROM THE PROPOSAL ARE INTENDED TO PROVIDE KEY ILLUSTRATIONS OF ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN THE RESEARCH PROPOSED OBJECTIVES.
Research trial locations:
The majority proposed field research trials in Objectives R1-4 will take place at a pre-established FCM trial site in southwest Washington (78th St Heritage Farm, Vancouver, WA). These trials currently consist of four blocks of treatment replications containing a total of ~500 logs inoculated with shiitake in 2019 and 2020. Additionally, a three truncated versions of proposed field research trials will help accomplish address Objectives 1-3. Trials at a satellite site in the south Puget Sound (Myers Point Environmental Field Station, Olympia, WA) currently hosting a replicated trial containing ~200 shiitake logs inoculated in 2019 will contribute to Objective R1 and R2. Two other truncated trials contributing to Objective R2 will take place at a satellite on-farm site in the south Willamette Valley (Woodland Valley Meadows Farm, Eugene, OR), and in northeast WA (WSU Vetter Extension and Research Forest, Deer Park, WA).
Objective R1:
A subset of 128 logs from the current southwest WA trials will be used as sample units to help estimate of the perennial productivity period of shiitake mushroom logs in the PNW. An additional subset of 94 logs from the current south Puget Sound trials will also be used to help achieve this objective. Up to two years of shiitake yield data will already be collected from the trials by the time proposed project begins; this project would allow for three additional years of yield data collection. Based on estimates from other regions, we anticipate that 5 years of data will suffice to begin to approximate the average age when PNW-sourced logs begin to cease producing in the PNW environment under the different log moisture management treatments we applied in the existing trials (see attached table and figure). This trial includes the treatment that will be used in all new trials established within this project (see Objective R2). All yield data collection protocols will be consistent those which were used for the past two years (15) by recording fresh shiitake weights and mushroom counts from individual logs after each of three forced-fruitings timed at ~8 weeks apart, annually beginning in late spring through early fall.
Objective R2:
New trials established during the project will use identical protocols used to establish the aforementioned trials used for Objective 1 (15) and will be sited in an adjacent location within each trial treatment block. All trials use individual logs as a sample unit within a spatially-balanced complete block design with split-plots. Blocks were used stratify replications and to expand the scope of inference, but a minimum of 4 sample units per treatment level are included within each treatment block in all shiitake trials to allow for data analysis at finer scales, and allow for inference within the smaller-scale satellite trials. All sites and blocks will be equipped with a weather station for recording ambient wind, temperature, relative humidity and light intensity data as potential covariates affecting mushroom productivity. Logs will be cut from trees harvested during winter dormancy in 2023. The southwest WA trials will include red alder, wild cherry, and garry oak substrates (species with relatively high natural abundance, and previously determined to be viable for shiitake production) and add new comparisons with paper birch, beaked hazelnut, and Oregon ash substrates. Red alder will be used as a standard across all trial sites in the western PNW, with the south Puget Sound trials including Oregon ash as a comparison and the south Willamette Valley trials including garry oak as a regional comparison. Paper birch will be used as a common substrate between the southwest WA trials and northeast WA satellite trials, with the latter will including quaking aspen as a regional comparison. All substrates will be inoculated with commercial shiitake sawdust spawn in spring 2023 using standardized rates, techniques, and timings across all sites (~30d after timber harvest). All western PNW sites will include 6 different strains of shiitake, whereas the northeast WA trials will include only two strains. All shiitake strains tested are commercially available, and were selected for short spawn run times, versatility, and ability to be force-fruited. All inoculated logs will be soaked for 24 hours before being placed within crib stacks under spun polyester fabric covers by early summer of the spawn run year to help assure that log moisture is adequate for spawn run throughout dry summer and fall conditions in 2023. A temperature and relative humidity data logger will be placed under the covers to account for differences from ambient site conditions. All covers will be removed by October 2023, and then reinstalled after the first shiitake harvest in late spring of 2024. All harvest and yield measurement protocols will be consistent with those detailed in Objective 1.
Objective R3:
Inoculation procedures where holes are drilled in logs and filled with mushroom spawn constitute the vast majority of the labor demanded from these systems, and are the largest constraint on scaling-up production because the process is not easily mechanized. Currently recommendations for inoculation rates uses rows 2-3” apart; this 1” of range is equals a difference of ~8-10 hours of labor per 100 logs. The second largest labor (and water resource) demand is soaking logs for forced fruiting. Trials thus far in Southwest WA suggest that the 7-8 week resting period between fruitings may not be sub-optimal for producing a third flush of shiitake in one season that is worthwhile. It is also unknown if this observed trend may partly be attributed to strain-specific characteristics. Trials in Vancouver also indicated that a rapid, vigorous spawn run is important for assuring that the shiitake fungus is resilient to dry spells after the spawn run period, and that logs begin producing returns for growers as soon as possible to avoid wasted time on forced-fruiting efforts that do not yield mushrooms. Trials in southwest WA will also include 3 subset trials that use two substrates and two strains from the main strain x substrate evaluation trials as a control, and compare those two three identical strain/substrate subsets of logs with 3 differing treatments: 1) a set inoculated with shiitake at a lower rate, 2) a set where wide range strains are force-fruited once in late spring and early fall only, and warm weather strains are force-fruited once in early summer and late summer only, and 3) a set where logs are soaked twice during the first spawn-run year. All harvest and yield measurement protocols otherwise will be consistent with those detailed in Objective beginning in late spring of 2024.
Objective R4:
The novel mushroom species screening trial at the southwest WA will use the same experimental design and procedures as the shiitake trials, but the number of sample units will truncated to only include a single log per combination of mushroom species/strain/substrate within each treatment block. Mushroom yield across all substrates will be analyzed for indices of general potential to produce in the PNW within systems otherwise set up for commercial shiitake production using forced-fruiting practices. These include: response to forced-fruiting, seasonal yield timing, total yield and yield uniformity, time needed for spawn run, and incidence of non-producing logs. Other observations concerning commercial viability such as relative shelf-life, and harvest efficiency will be noted and recorded to inform future trials. Yield measurements from trials established in 2023 will begin take place beginning at the same time as .
Research course-correction protocol:
If information garnered from the visiting scholar trip to Japan indicates that a component of a Research Objective 3 or 4 has either 1) already been determined to be a clear dead-end, or 2) if there are key aspects of shiitake production discovered that would be more highly applicable to the PNW context than the original plan, plans will be proposed course-correct accordingly if within the means of existing personnel and funding capacities. In formulating a course-correction, the vacancy from omissions to the original trial plan will be proposed to be re-allocated in accordance with the relative magnitude of the vacancy (trial labor, spaces, and funds). If potential improvements are either beyond the current means, or insights from Japan do not inspire a clear, feasible alternative to the original plans, three tangible default plans are pre-proposed: 1) increasing the number of sample units for species/strains with the greatest potential for commercial production within the novel species screening trial, 2) a shift to focus on simple, low-investment system adaptations that may allow these species to produce and allow for mushroom quality control within the existing shiitake system (hypothetical example: a simple misting system that induces fruiting), or 3) a shift towards expanding the shiitake trials to include another subset trial with a third variation on forced-fruiting patterns, inclusion of two more substrates (paper birch and wild cherry) within the existing subset trials, and/or addition of two additional shiitake strains for evaluation. Any proposed research course-corrections will be vetted through the project team and collaborating producers, and proposed to WSARE for approval. The same protocol will be applied if collaborating producers likewise elucidate a potential course correction that has greater relevance for the PNW context than the original research plan.
Data analysis:
In the shiitake strain x substrate evaluation trials, strain will be established as a main-plot treatment, substrate species as a split-plot treatment. Comparisons between treatments will be primarily analyzed as a randomized complete block design with split-plots. A mixed-model analysis will be used with treatments to be considered fixed effects (with split-plot treatments accounted for as nested effects within main-plot treatments), and replications be considered random effects. The same approach will be used to compare overall shiitake yield (regardless of treatment) between different locations and/or treatment blocks to determine the magnitude of potential effects of environmental conditions. The regional satellite trials will be analyzed for 1) within-site inferences regarding strain and strain x substrate interactions and 2) for shiitake strain yield responses to red alder substrates across both the south Puget Sound and south Willamette Valley sites.
R1, R2, and R3) Under R1, we continued to collect data on the long-term yields of shiitake from the pre-established trials beginning in 2019 and 2020 in Vancouver and the south Puget Sound locations. The proposed trials for R2 and R3 research objectives in Southwest WA, South Puget Sound, WA and Lower Willamette Valley, OR were all successfully implemented by May, 2023. Additionally, a smaller trial of ~60 logs added in spring of 2022 to the Vancouver site will be incorporated under objective R1 (examining long-term shiitake yields of logs in the PNW); this was a truncated trial initiated after WSARE funding for this project was was initially not chosen for funding. This trial consequently ended up adding an unanticipated research workload to objective R1 after the project was later chosen for funding. This truncated trial is partly focused on the performance of logs with smaller-than-average diameters (~2.5-4.5”) and incorporates 5 log species (red alder, common hazelnut, western beaked hazelnut, Oregon ash, and gray birch) and three shiitake strains (‘Night velvet’, ‘West wind’, and ‘Son’) as split-plot sub-treatments. We also opted to add some minor sub-trials to R2 and R3, including the addition of a truncated subset of vine maple and cascara timber substrates to to R2 in Southwest WA, a truncated subset of Oregon ash and bigleaf maple to the south Willamette Valley satellite trial, and a truncated low inoculation rate subset to R3 in the south Puget Sound satellite trial.
The largest deviation from the research objectives was the loss of the satellite trial proposed for in northeastern Washington (under R2 and R3), due to WSU collaborator Sean Alexander leaving the project following a career change. Alexander's departure within the project timeline did not allow for sufficient time to find a replacement collaborator that would have been capable of implementing and carrying out the satellite trial in northeastern WA. A subset trial using fall-cut, early-inoculated shiitake logs and a high tunnel (a type of greenhouse) to accelerate shiitake spawn run may be considered as an alternative to R4 if the R4 is ultimately deemed to have limited viability.
R4) A decision was made to table the proposed R4 screening trial in Southwest WA (assessing 5 strains of oyster mushrooms and 7 other mushroom species for their potential to be grown commercially within PNW forest-cultivated mushroom system), partly due to research capacity constraints (aforementioned), and partly due to understanding that viability of this research objective would be substantially better-informed by information gained from the visiting scholar tour of Japan (objective E4).
Research Outcomes
As a relatively “new” crop production system for the PNW, there are many aspects that remain un-researched although this project will attempt to address multiple fundamental research questions that need clarification in order to be built upon. This project’s research is at an incipient stage still though, so recommendations will not be made until later on in the project timeline.
Education and Outreach
Participation Summary:
Objective E1)
Three of four producers in the Portland-metro area, two growers in the south PugetSound region of WA, one of two growers in northwest WA, and two growers in the southWillamette Valley region of OR have been recruited and committed to participate in the project as new FCM producers. Mentorship will be focused on shiitake production and systems, with each grower agreeing to focus on shiitake as the most reliable FCM species for commercial production. Collaborating growers will get introduced to FCM systems and current research through a tour and training at the Vancouver trial site in June 2023 and 2024. Producers will otherwise have full sovereignty to add other mushrooms to their operation/enterprise, choose their scale, and markets. Direct mentorship will begin in Fall of 2023 and continue throughout; the project team will use on-site visits, research-based information, experiential knowledge, and general commercial mushroom production system knowledge to work with each collaborating producer in formulating business and production plans, including labor budgeting, equipment, substrate selection, timber sourcing and harvest, log cutting, shiitake strain choice, inoculation methods and logistics, production site selection, and infrastructure logistics, market options, and post-harvest considerations.
Objective E2)
An incipient PNW FCM grower network will be incited by the with the project team with collaborating producers constituting the initial network. A network website will be developed throughout the project to feature listings for FCM-related events, meetings, production, marketing and value-added processing resources, a grower forum, and an interactive map for helping to connect growers, buyers, and suppliers.
Objective E3)
Training of a new regional team of university-based educators/researchers will be accomplished through 1) team meetings and critical review of educational materials developed by the PI throughout 2022, 2) getting all members up to speed with current PNW FCM research via the two aforementioned tours and hands-on trainings in Vancouver, 3) experiential knowledge gain through research and interaction with collaborating producers and 4) information and network connections gained via thevisiting scholar tour of Japanese FCM production systems.
Objective E4)
Researchers and PNW growers will be connected to contemporary advancements in FCM production systems through network-building with key researchers and keycenters FCM production in Japan. A 10-day visiting scholar tour of select locations and meetings with key researchers in Japan in Year 1 is a key component to E4's success with assistance from a Japanese translator and tour guide familiar with shiitake production (Shinji Kawai, see stakeholder letters). The tour will be documented and targeted for use in educational Extension products and presentations (Objective E6).Information will be shared directly with collaborating growers, and to other FCM stakeholders through live educational events and with researchers via presentations ata regional and a national agroforestry conference (Objective E5).
Objective E5)
Advancements in FCM system knowledge will be disseminated to community stakeholders through 1) two hands-on, public workshops in each region in years 2 and3 including participating producers as co-speakers, 2) a webinar in fall of each project year, and 3). One workshop in fall of 2023 will focus on on shiitake harvest, and asecond in spring 2024 will be focused inoculation procedures. Workshops will belocated at each trial site. Two additional workshops at Headwaters Farm Incubator in Gresham, OR (see Steele stakeholder letter of support), and two different farm incubators in northwest WA (Viva Farms and Black Farmers Collective) will target disseminating project knowledge to underserved farmer communities in Year 3.
Objective E6)
Written educational material development will be initially drafted by the project PI, critically reviewed by the project team in year 1, and vetted by the collaborating producers throughout Objective 5’s mentoring process. Video footage will be taken throughout the project and edited by the PI and program support staff into instructional-videos for upload to YouTube, the Network website, and an online shiitake production course launched in winter of 2024-2025.
All educational objectives will be assessed through post-program surveys, website use data, network growth, collaborating producer feedback and successful shiitake business development.
E1) A total of 11 growers began establishing a shiitake production system for their farms. Two of the original listed participating growers opted delay implementation to the winter of 2023-24, but alternatively, another three growers were recruited into the project (two located near southwest WA and another in the Oregon Coast Range). Five farms opted to attend a full-day training in Vancouver, WA in January 2023; one farm additionally brought two employees who were interested in starting their own shiitake business. A total of 11 individuals were in attendance plus four Extension team members (who had an additional training the previous day). Otherwise, the project team made 9 individual visits to participating farms. Growers chose to begin with 25-100 logs as a starting size for their production system, with most opting for a target of around 50 logs. Growers largely chose to keep their systems limited to shiitake and strains that had be previously tested by WSU, per guidance provided from Extension (one farm chose to additionally experiment with oyster mushrooms). Most chose advisable per substrate species WSU research, with most choosing red alder and at least one farm choosing to add common hazel (advisable), garry oak (advisable), and wild sweet cherry (somewhat advisable) and another choosing to add some bigleaf maple (largely unadvisable) and Oregon ash (viability unknown, but locally available). They also largely chose to adhere to the production practices developed by WSU. In some instances a few growers chose to improvise alternatives from some of the advised standard production equipment, mostly to avert financial burden. To date, the most common aversion to the advised production components as reported by growers has been the purchase of tanks used to soak the logs, as this is the largest single financial investment into a forest-cultivated shiitake production system. A few growers suggested that a public “equipment library” of sorts would be a useful way for them to try out a given piece of equipment for a given season, and decide if they want to invest further. A second notable report from growers was when they had people source logs for them, they weren’t listened to with regard to the requested log size, and that the logs’ bark needed to be undamaged. Multiple growers reported that over-sized logs with abundant bark damage were delivered. This was similar to some past experiences that some of the Extension team experienced as well. There was also some “reality check” moments reported by some growers regarding whether they would be able to meet their start-up production size goals with respect to labor burden, learning curve, balanced with real-time life circumstances. Several growers accordingly lowered their target size from their initial goals.
Another full-day training was offered to the participating growers in June in Vancouver, but only one farm ultimately ended up attending. Otherwise the Extension team periodically checked in with participating growers via email, text, or phone in the meantime between January and June 2023. Growers thus far that have reported back to the Extension team have relayed that that they were able to successfully complete each advised core step in establishing the a production system.
E2) The concept of a PNW forest-cultivated mushroom grower’s network was introduced to the participating producers via the January training in Vancouver and otherwise through emails. This included the early stage development of a network website (www.pnwforestmushroomgrowers.net), and a shared google drive folder for sharing resources as they are developed. A contact list was also shared with each of the growers to encourage peer-to-peer community support. There was at least a degree of resource-sharing amongst them as well to reduce financial burden and support one another (mostly bulk-purchasing of supplies) as a result of this. The Extension team will continue to develop the website throughout the duration of the project, as a more interactive format for grower resources and community information-sharing.
E3) All Extension team members and Key Collaborator Kawai attended a full-day orientation and training in Vancouver on January 30, 2022 that was led by PI O’Dea. The day included orientation to the past and current FCM research in Vancouver, and to the PNW-oriented production practices developed via PI O’Dea and Co-PI Shults’s research to date. Co-PI Jones and Co-PI Shults participated in site visits with growers in their respective regions along with PI O’Dea in spring of 2023. This co-mentoring process used to calibrate a common Extension approach to mentoring growers utilizing a set of production guidance materials drafted by PI O’Dea on forest-cultivated shiitake production systems. This also provided the Extension team with an opportunity to review the production materials in a real-time context. The materials were also used to outline with a set of uniform practices for Co-PI Jones and Shults to use in establishment of their respective regional trials, giving them a first-hand user opportunity to review the draft guidance materials.
E4) A 10-day visiting scholar tour of select shiitake production, processing, and research sites in Japan was organized with considerable assistance from key collaborator Kawai throughout the first half of 2023. The tour is scheduled for July 27th- August 6th, 2023 and will occur throughout Oita, Miyazaki, Kumamoto (on the southerly island of Kyushu), and Hokkaido (on the northerly island of Hokkaido) prefectures in Japan. The team is prepared to document the tour through video and photography for dissemination throughout the remainder of the project. Co-PI Zobrist will be unable to attend the tour due to unanticipated personnel capacity constraints that limited the time he could divert towards participating.
E5) In addition to the aforementioned trainings for the participating growers, a PI O’Dea held a two-day short course in May/June 2022 and one other workshop in May 2023 have been in Vancouver thus far for the general public. Both events were capped at 15 farms due to capacity constraints for the hands-on portions of the event; both events sold out quickly with approximately 25 participants from 15 different farms attending. All attending farms were targeting learning how to grow shiitake for market. Post event evaluations indicated significant knowledge gains, and intent to transfer knowledge gains to practice. A third shiitake production workshop was held in the south Puget Sound region in June 2023, at a family forest field day. Post event evaluations indicated high rankings for knowledge gains, and intent to incorporate knowledge gains; at least two evaluations specifically indicated intent to start growing shiitake mushrooms.
For general project outreach, a shiitake mushroom table was set up at Maple Conference in Portland, OR in May 2023; approximately 350 stopped by the table to learn more about the project and shiitake production. The project PI’s were also interviewed by WSU Insider for an article set to release in August 2023 about the project and the visiting scholar tour of Japan.
E6) Multiple educational materials on forest-cultivated shiitake production have been drafted by PI O’Dea thus far. These include 1) a 20-page illustrated production guide, 2) a shiitake production enterprise budget worksheet/calculator, 3) a table of PNW-sourced log substrates for shiitake production, 4) a visual two-year production timeline, and 5) a “to-do” production startup checklist. All draft materials were supplied to all participating growers as a reference for their production system setup; all growers will be solicited for feedback on the materials during year-end interviews throughout the project. The PNW Forest-Cultivated Mushroom Growers Network website (www.pnwforestmushroomgrowers.net) has also been initiated, with several in-progress pages set up.
Education and Outreach Outcomes
This project’s educational outcomes are at an incipient stage still, so recommendations will not be made until later on in the project timeline.
- New enterprise development