Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA, told The Produce News that there is a strong and conscious effort by increasingly more consumers to lean toward buying organic product.

“There is a lot of work being done, and study results published by the Mushroom Council that put forth the health benefits and high flavor of mushrooms in general,” said Mr. Donovan. “These facts needed to be a bit more promoted. The Council has done this and people are responding by increasing their purchases, including organic.”

Those consumers who are looking at increasing the amount of organic products they buy are primarily those who are more highly educated about the health and nutritional benefits of the mushroom category.  

Because mushrooms grow in a substrate material, such as sawdust, corncobs, straw, grain and other agricultural waste products, this year’s drought on grain crops in the United States is expected to have an effect on the cost of mushroom production in the coming future.

“It is looking like products will be costly throughout the coming winter, spring and summer,” said Mr. Donovan. “There is an expected shortage of growing medium products, and that works just like fresh produce at market; costs will be higher due to supply and demand.”

Phillips Mushroom Farms continually increases its organic acreage to meet the growing demand, but the category will also feel the cost effects of the higher growing medium costs in the coming year.

Phillips Mushroom Farms produces white, Shiitake, Portabella, Baby Bella, Royal Trumpet, Maitake, Beech and Pom Pom mushrooms in its organic line.

“We also offer combo packs in both our organic and conventional line,” said Mr. Donovan. “The packs include Shiitake, Royal Trumpets and Maitake. They provide different textures and flavors, but they go well together and are great in many recipes.”

Phillips Mushroom Farms completed construction of its new facility in Warwick, PA, over two years ago. Every room in the cutting-edge 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. A uniform substrate creates ideal growing conditions throughout the 10,000-square-foot growing room.

“We will be completing a second expansion of that facility this fall,” said Mr. Donovan. “The expansion project will result in a facility twice its current size.”

The new facility is Mushroom Good Agricultural Practices and Safe Quality Foods certified, and it is 20 percent more energy efficient.

Mushrooms, organic or not, tend not to be driven by the locally grown trend. Mr. Donovan noted that over 60 percent of the mushrooms produced in the United States are grown in Pennsylvania.

“But people are becoming more aware of where their produce comes from,” he noted. “It’s a matter of getting them as local as possible.”