Trends In 2023 In The Mushroom Industry
The project coordinator of the BIOSCHAMP project – the Spanish Association of Mushroom Growers (ASOCHAMP) which hosts the Research Center of Mushroom (CTICH) – introduces a series of key trends for the mushroom industry for 2023:
European mushroom consumption and therefore, mushroom production, has been growing steadily over the last 30 years, and dietary trends and market forecast predict that this growth will continue over the next 10 years.
Challenges for the mushroom industry & the BIOSCHAMP solution
2023 is a very challenging year for the mushroom industry because of the increasingly limited availability of active substances to fight fungal diseases and the increasing market demand.
The increase in mushroom consumption, due to its healthy properties among others, must be absorbed by the production sector. It is becoming a challenge to increase mushroom production profitability with a reduction in traditional disease-fighting weapons. In addition, consumers are looking for even healthier and environmentally friendly products, which impacts directly the use of chemical pesticides in the food chain.
In this scenario, the BIOSCHAMP project becomes even more important, as the development of a natural origin biostimulant product with effect against fungal pathogens will open the door to the mushroom growers to not rely so much on the limited chemical pesticides available, while mushroom yield is not affected and the environmental friendliness of the mushroom sector is boosted.
In this phase of the project, the BIOSCHAMP team is optimizing the biostimulant dosage looking for the best performance, both in agronomic behaviour and economic profitability.
The use of biostimulants
The use of biostimulants is widespread in the agriculture sector, however, the mushroom sector, probably due to its singular cultivation characteristics has been on the margins of this development.
Following the success achieved in horticulture and due to the results obtained from research conducted in previous actions and the earlier tasks of BIOSCHAMP, we are excited about the success of biostimulation in the mushroom sector, in the short term to tackle diseases, and in the mid-term to increase mushroom yields in a safer way for the environment and human consumption.
About CTICH, BIOSCHAMP project coordinator
Learn more about the project partners of the BIOSCHAMP project and their work here:
