“We fared OK through the storm in January,” Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA, told The Produce News. “We did not lose power, and our staff and our trucks were, for the most part, able to get to where they needed to be. We got some snow and cold temperatures, but it was a lot worse just north of us.”

Donovan was referring to the polar vortex that swept across North America in early January. The weather phenomenon blanketed the Northeast with record low temperatures.

Mushrooms are grown indoors in temperature-controlled rooms, and so a downside of when temperatures drop is that the cost of heating to keep the rooms at correct growing temperatures goes up.

Baby bellas and shiitakes are among Phillips Mushrooms’ most popular organic varieties.“Very cold and moist weather can also affect the compost, which is made outside,” said Donovan. “But so far this year the compost is in pretty good shape.”

Phillips Mushroom Farms is a leader in fresh mushroom production. It carries a full line of conventional and organic mushrooms at its Kennett Square location and its most recently developed high-tech facility in Warwick, MD.

Donovan said the most popular organic mushroom varieties are the whites, baby bellas and shiitakes.

The Warwick facility underwent a second expansion project that was completed over a year ago. The Warwick facility now has 500,000-square-feet of growing space and produces over 20 million pounds of mushrooms annually.

Donovan also announced that the company recently appointed a new farm manager at the Warwick facility.

“Jack Ritenour took over in the position with us on January 13,” said Donovan. “He has been in the mushroom industry throughout his entire career, and we at Phillips Mushroom Farms are happy to have him on board.

“Every room in the cutting-edge Warwick facility is climate-controlled by computers, and each room is harvested multiple times a day, 24 hours a day, so mushrooms are always picked at their optimum size,” Donovan observed. “The new facility is Mushroom Good Agricultural Practices- and Safe Quality Foods-certified, and it is 20 percent more energy efficient.”

Phillips Mushroom Farms has also invested heavily to build research facilities. Today it distributes over 35 million pounds of specialty mushrooms annually.

Every conventional mushroom variety produced at Phillips Mushroom Farms is also available in its organic line. Donovan explained that although the foodservice industry has not demanded organic mushrooms in the past, the company is seeing an increase in demand for the category.

“Restaurants, predominantly independent operations, are requesting more organic mushrooms today,” he said. “These operators are fulfilling their customers’ demand for more locally grown foods, and they see that organics fits into what this customer profile likes, which also includes sustainability practices.

“Overall, more people are looking for better nutrition and organic mushrooms fit perfectly in the list of what they’re looking for,” Donovan added.

Premium pricing for organic mushrooms has to do with production. Donovan noted that companies just don’t produce as much organic as conventional in mushrooms because of growing differences.

“Our organic crop finishes earlier so we can control insects, and especially if we suspect an insect infestation that we cannot use chemicals to control,” he said. “This simply and clearly explains why we have less organic supply, which keeps the demand high and market stronger.”