Growing Futures with Hundreds of Untapped Native Fungi in Regenerative Agriculture and Agritourism Exploration by Rural High-School Students

Commodities

Practices

Rural high‑school students will survey a wide-open agricultural frontier: hundreds of native and naturalized gourmet and functional mushroom species in the U.S. whose cultivation and agritourism potential remain largely untapped. Students will use paired grow kits, simple experiments, yield and "biological efficiency" calculations, taste tests, and video journals to discover how fungi can strengthen regenerative farms, reuse byproducts, and spark enterprises. Unlike typical intros with zero to a few species, this project will widely introduce many underutilized mushrooms plus be hands-on. A classroom‑tested video mini‑curriculum will let other educators replicate this experience with minimal extra preparation.

This project will: (1) introduce students to the hundreds of under‑explored, US-native gourmet and functional mushroom species as a frontier of opportunity for agriculture and agritourism; (2) engage ecologically sound hands‑on pilot trials with mushroom kits to practice measurement, data collection, and basic experimental design; (3) introduce economically viable entrepreneurship with mushrooms; (4) create a reusable library of high‑quality video and media assets that any agriculture or science teacher can adopt, enabling one high‑school pilot to eventually seed engaging, rewarding mushroom career option inspiration nationwide; and (5) be unique from previously-funded SARE projects related to mycology.