Indoor Specialty Mushroom Production – Online Course

Using farm buildings for mushroom production

Mushrooms are an emerging niche crop with many benefits and offer a unique and highly desired product. With a bit of practice, oyster, shiitake, lions mane, and other mushrooms can easily be grown in a variety of locations and on many different substrates including straw, coffee grounds, and more.

This course trains new and experienced farmers in the background, techniques, and economics of farm scale indoor commercial production. Students will learn the basic biology of mushrooms, cultivation techniques, proper conditions for fruiting, management needs, and harvesting and marketing mushrooms.

Note: In addition to weekly online readings, presentation, and discussion, we encourage participants to order a spawn kit to try mini mushroom experiments on their tabletop at home. Kits are $30; details on what and where to order are posted in the course.

Target Audience

All levels – The course is for new farmers, or experienced farmers seeking to diversify their operations. Growing mushrooms as a viable economic enterprise will be stressed, though techniques can also be applied at the hobby scale. Mushroom farming is an easy topic for beginners with some experience farming and managing crop systems.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, you will:

• Know the basics of mushroom production, harvesting, and marketing
• Be able to complete a basic marking plan and budget for a mushroom enterprise
• Know the logistics of management, sales, and legal issues related to mushroom farming

Webinars

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in Teachable, our virtual classroom. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the online interface of the course to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from outside presenters and ask questions to address your farm issues in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.

Webinar Schedule

Live instruction for the 2021-2022 season will begin on Tues. Feb 22, 2022 from 6:30-8pm Eastern time, and continue for 6 weeks, with the final webinar on Tues. Mar 29. While we encourage live attendance so you have the opportunity to engage with the presenters and ask questions, all webinars we will be posted in our online classroom for students to watch anytime.