BC's Mushroom Industry

There are over 100 mushroom farms in Canada, with 35% located in British Columbia. The majority of BC mushrooms are produced in the Fraser Valley, just 100 km west of Vancouver and 60 km North of the US boarder. 

The art of mushroom growing requires managing  variables such as weather conditions and humidity, raw materials such as soil quality and spores, plus biosecurity such as insects.

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GROWING A MUSHROOM

Commercially produced mushrooms are grown in special insulated houses. These houses consist of a number of closely controlled growing rooms that are made up of wooden frame beds. For each batch, the growing beds are filled with soil and compost that has been blended with mushroom spores. As the spores grow, the grower must carefully control the room temperature, humidity, light levels and air flow.

Mushrooms have a short shelf life so they must be harvested and packaged 7 days a week, 365 days per year. This means that growing rooms are lined up on different growing cycles to ensure that while one crop is finished, there are many more crops on their way.

HARVESTING A MUSHROOM

Mushrooms are very delicate so must be harvested and packaged 100% by hand.

In the first harvest, larger mushrooms are picked according to a uniform size set by the customer. Each mushroom is cut at the bottom of the stem with a small knife and carefully placed in a bin for grading and packaging.

For a standard button mushroom, each growing room will produce up to 3 harvests before the soil and compost is removed and the cycle repeated.