Growing oyster mushrooms at home as a profitable business. How to Start an Oyster Mushroom Growing Business Smartly

If the intention is ripe to start your own business with a small budget and without significant costs for renting a room, then it makes sense to consider growing oyster mushrooms as a business. Reviews of those who have tried this scheme confirm the reality of this type of earnings. In addition, to obtain a decent result, you do not have to immerse yourself in complex processes - working with such mushrooms after a short study of the characteristics of cultivation will be relatively simple. This means that such an idea for making money is suitable for almost everyone.

Reasons for relevance

First of all, oyster mushrooms should be dealt with for the reason that they are in demand. People like these mushrooms, they are ready to buy them. If we compare them with porcini mushrooms, then we can safely say that they are not inferior to this product in terms of taste. In addition, oyster mushrooms are very useful because they contain many vitamins, amino acids and proteins.

In the process of growing oyster mushrooms, the use of chemicals is not required, and after the harvest is harvested, they can be stored for a long time. If you correctly draw up a business plan, growing oyster mushrooms will turn into a stable source of good income.

And another advantage that you need to pay attention to is the ability to start such a business at home without tangible financial risks and fuss with the selection of premises for rent. And if we compare the costs of growing oyster mushrooms and, say, champignons, then the former will be much less with relatively the same demand.

Where to begin

Initially, you need to understand that for such a business, although rent is not needed, a certain room will still be required. This means that growing mushrooms (oyster mushrooms) at home is a business that requires its own site. It can be a place in the yard of your own house or in the country. It will be problematic to implement such a process in an apartment, but if desired and if there is free space, such a prospect remains possible.

So, in order to take the first steps in organizing a mushroom growing business, you will have to find a dark room with high humidity, good air supply and an exhaust hood through which carbon dioxide will escape.

As for growing methods, this can be done on wood cuts and sawdust, straw bags, boxes and stumps. Natural conditions are also perfect, we are talking about an extensive method.

Helper Processes

There are a number of actions during the process of growing mushrooms that you simply need to know to get a good harvest:

Preparatory work for planting the substrate, that is, the base in which mushrooms will grow;

Preparation of seed, it is also called mycelium;

Compliance with all necessary conditions until the moment when primordia (the germ of the fungus) appears.

It is important not to make a mistake with the choice of the type of mycelium, on which the final result largely depends. Proper planting of seeds is also important. This factor must be taken into account if we consider the cultivation of oyster mushrooms as a business.

More specifically, straw or sawdust should be used in the preparation of the substrate. They must first be steamed, and then placed in a bag. In this case, only the raw materials that have had time to cool down are placed. After the bags are placed on a shelf in a dark place (room temperature 18-20 ° C). When the sowing is completed, it is worth making holes in the blocks (bags). A nail is suitable as a tool.

You can count on the first noticeable results as early as two weeks after sowing.

What does the harvest depend on?

Growing oyster mushrooms as a business inevitably depends on the fact how many mushrooms the aspiring entrepreneur ends up picking. The more product, the higher the income. And in order for the results of the work to please, several key conditions must be observed.

As mentioned above, the room in which blocks with mushrooms will be placed must have an increased level of humidity, it must also be ventilated and ensure that the optimum temperature is maintained in it.

As the experience of many entrepreneurs who dealt with oyster mushrooms has shown, the best harvest is observed when grown in blocks placed on racks in a vertical position. The distance between them should be 90-110 cm. This will allow you to move freely among the blocks both during mushroom care and harvesting.

If you have to deal with bags, then the rows are best placed with a distance of 30 cm from each other. As for the width of the racks, in this case it is better to stick to the mark of 40 cm. This helps to maintain the desired temperature.

Assessing the cultivation of oyster mushrooms as a business, reviews should be taken into account without fail. And the experience of many people involved in the cultivation of these mushrooms confirms the fact that high-quality fruiting should be expected only with stable observance of the desired temperature. At the same time, it is important to understand that, depending on the species, the level of both 13-15 ° C and 25 ° C may be relevant. Special heating equipment will help stabilize the temperature regime. This function can perfectly perform connected to the sensors

What about lighting and ventilation

So, oyster mushrooms will feel great, provided that in the room where they are located, free access of oxygen is provided and there is a good waste of carbon dioxide. If the concentration of the latter exceeds 0.8%, then hats with wrapped edges and long growths will appear on the mushrooms. With such a presentation, it is hardly worth counting on increased interest from buyers.

For those who have defined growing oyster mushrooms as a business, it is important to know that an acceptable level of humidity in the room is checked. It is actually not difficult to do this: ventilation is in perfect order if the length of the stem of growing oyster mushrooms is approximately one third of the total size of the fungus.

It also does not hurt when installing a ventilation system to take care of the presence of a filter in it.

Regarding the topic of lighting, it should be noted that in the case of oyster mushrooms, light is needed, but in limited quantities (from 100 to 200 lux for 12 hours). If this norm is neglected and the concentration is increased, then one will have to face such an unpleasant consequence as a significant decrease in the number of primordia.

Irrigation and humidity standards

Growing oyster mushrooms as a business at home will always involve work related to regulating humidity levels. You need to understand that a product such as mushrooms is 90% moisture, and if you allow excessive dryness of the room, then full fruiting will be in question.

That's why bags are ideal for this process - they hold moisture very well. To reliably protect mushrooms from deformation, it is necessary to achieve a stable humidity level of 85%. But don't get carried away with hydration either. In this situation, "too" is not a good thing, as mushrooms can end up with poor storage tolerance, which is an important aspect of the business building process.

To make it easier to accurately determine the level of humidity, it makes sense to purchase an instrument such as a psychrometer. It is not difficult to arrange - it contains two sensors that evaluate dryness and humidity. It is the difference in their readings that makes it possible to identify violations of the required regime or to determine its compliance.

If we consider growing oyster mushrooms in bags as a business, and moreover thoroughly, then we cannot ignore the fact that these mushrooms require different levels of humidity at different stages of growth. This means that batches of different ages must be stored in separate rooms or in one, but divided into several parts with different humidity indicators.

Now a little about the irrigation process. You need to remember about it at the moment when the size of the fruiting bodies reaches 30 mm or 1 cm. In order for the mushrooms to receive high-quality irrigation, it is worth using a mesh with holes up to 0.5 mm. But as for the fogging installations, it is better to forget about them right away. At the same time, it is important to understand that watering cannot be stopped even during collection, otherwise you may encounter such a nuisance as oyster mushroom deformation.

Key Growing Principles

There are several important rules, in addition to those mentioned above, that everyone who has decided to start growing oyster mushrooms should know. Home business in this case should be extremely literate. If you carefully study the requirements and understand their essence, then it will not be difficult to ensure stable yields.

So here are the rules:

For the fastest possible growth of mycelium, the number of substrate layers in the bag should start from 12.

The mycelium itself must be scattered in such a way that the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe site is covered with it. But at the same time, it is worth distributing 80% closer to the walls, and only 20% in the center.

After tamping is completed, it is important to leave room for the tie.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that there are holes in the bags at the bottom as well, this will allow all excess moisture to drain easily. In general, perforation implies the presence of 10-20 holes per bag of mycelium.

At first, blocks with emerging mushrooms should be stored in a dark, damp place, but after 14-16 days of ripening, when the entire mycelium is filled with the substrate, they must be transferred to a place where there is light, but there is no direct sunlight. It can be a plot in the shade of trees or a house, a basement, as well as a barn.

More details about the equipment

Obviously, growing oyster mushrooms as a business for beginners can have different scales. Everyone’s home conditions are different: someone has a small area for such experiments, while others can afford to allocate a tangible territory for such a business, say, in the country. And if it so happened that there are no problems with square meters, then it makes sense to think about serious volumes of the grown product, and for this it is already advisable to pay attention to the appropriate equipment.

You should start with an autoclave, with which you can produce mycelium. With this approach, the process of preparing the base for mushroom growth will become much faster.

Substrate preparation equipment is also relevant. In the absence of funds, you can independently make a similar machine. For these purposes, you need to find a thick-walled barrel (100-200 liters), pour water into it and bring it to a boil using a diluted fire. It is necessary to take care of the presence of branches that allow the release of steam. Thin-walled barrels with the same volumes are connected to such outlets and the substrate is already placed in them. Under such conditions, it undergoes high-quality heat treatment.

But this is not all the equipment that oyster mushroom cultivation requires as a business. Reviews confirm the feasibility of using equipment for pasture fruiting bodies. In fact, we are talking about a well-prepared room or several areas where the required humidity, temperature and the required level of lighting are maintained.

How to calculate profit

A business plan for growing oyster mushrooms inevitably includes a calculation of expenses and possible income.

To get the numbers you need, let's do some simple calculations. If we take the simplest option, then money will be needed to purchase bags and a filler - a substrate. On average, ready-made blocks with various relevant content can be purchased for $ 2.5 per piece. Since in this case a business plan for growing oyster mushrooms at home is being considered, the costs of renting premises and employees are not taken into account. Mushrooms for sowing can be purchased at a price of $ 1.5 per kg.

If you correctly organize the area, then for 1 m 2 it will be possible to place up to 7 blocks. One such block is able to bring a crop of 3 kg of mushrooms. Accordingly, from a square meter of usable area, an entrepreneur has 21 kg of oyster mushrooms. As for the sale, you can try to independently organize the sale and delivery of mushrooms to the end consumer (shops, markets, markets, etc.) or use the services of resellers.

On average, you can earn up to $ 3 per kilogram of oyster mushrooms, which leads to a simple conclusion: such a business allows you to enjoy a 100% markup on goods and make a tangible profit compared to investments. This means that those who intend to try their hand at entrepreneurship should seriously consider growing oyster mushrooms as a business. A photo of the process and its detailed description on the forums will allow you to easily understand the features of the process and get constant yields.

Results

Obviously, this business idea deserves attention, since it does not require significant funds to start a business and promises good earnings with a competent organization of the process. Therefore, if you need money, and dreams of owning your own business are rushing out, it makes sense to evaluate the cultivation of oyster mushrooms as a business. Reviews of many enthusiasts who ventured to take advantage of this opportunity only confirm the fact that this type of income can be safely called promising and extremely safe in terms of financial risks.

In search of ideas for their own business, many come to growing oyster mushrooms at home. In this article, we will take a detailed look at the costs, profitability and feedback of this activity. Is it worth the effort or does it require serious investments and a large enterprise?

Advantages and disadvantages

This business is in many aspects an ideal option for beginners to get acquainted with entrepreneurship. It requires a minimum start-up capital and allows you to start working with small volumes, increasing them over time. Moreover, at the very beginning it is possible to grow mushrooms exclusively for personal use, and as soon as the technology is debugged, enter the market.

The following benefits should also be noted:

1. Mushrooms can be grown both in rural and urban areas.
2. High demand for the crop.
3. The widest opportunities for development and expansion of business.
4. No need for hired workers, at least in the early stages.
5. No need for a wide list of business contacts.
6. Relatively stable income.

Among the minuses is the problem with the sale of really large batches of mushrooms (although the problem will not start soon, it all depends on the growth rate). You will also need at least minimal knowledge on the subject (they can be accumulated in the process).

It should also be noted that such an important factor as seasonality. In summer and autumn, sales often decline, and starting from the middle of winter, when the population runs out of their own stocks, demand grows.

Reasons for choosing oyster mushroom

Leaving aside nutritional value, taste and usefulness, it is worth noting that compared to the more popular chanterelles, mushrooms, champignons and others, oyster mushrooms are quite easy to grow, and the growth rate is high. If under natural conditions the harvest of mushrooms can be obtained in 2-2.5 months, then in artificial conditions this period is halved.

Cultures bear fruit in several waves, the weight of one bunch can reach 200 grams, and record holders grow up to several kilograms, or even more.

A separate plus is that the fungus can grow on almost any substrate: on stumps, straw, sawdust, even sunflower husks. In some countries, oyster mushrooms are grown even on paper waste. Modern technologies allow to expand this list even more.

Market selection

Among the more obvious options are:

• Self-sale in the markets. In this case, you will have to take care of finding a free trading place, make and correctly place advertising, and attract the attention of potential buyers. Implementation in this case goes at a retail pace. As an advantage - the ability to set their own prices with an eye to competitors, if any.
• Sales through grocery stores and supermarkets. In each fairly large city there is a trading network or a separate point that is interested in the wholesale purchase of mushrooms. Unfortunately, most often they offer very low prices. Over time, it will be possible to switch to more favorable terms of cooperation, and the accumulated base of regular customers will remain with you, even if you break off cooperation with the outlet.
• Sale to restaurants. Mushrooms are traditionally in high demand in restaurants. The reason is simple - such establishments cook only from the freshest products. Cooperation will make it possible to sell large batches of mushrooms quickly and profitably. The rest can be sold by the first or second method.

Needless to say, no matter what option it was ultimately decided to resort to, grown mushrooms must be of the highest quality.

Company registration

Before starting work, you must register a business. To do this, select the OKVED code 01.12.31.

This type of business implies three options for the legal form: individual entrepreneur, LLC or peasant farm, that is, a peasant farm. All three have their pros and cons. Such a form as a personal subsidiary plot is not suitable in this case.

IP

Allows you to grow mushrooms and sell crops.

To register, you will need to pay a state fee of 800 rubles, apply for the transition to the simplified tax system or unified social tax, and prepare an application in the form No. P21001, which will need to be certified by a notary.

A photocopy of all significant pages of the passport should be taken care of in advance.

OOO

Gives the right to attract investments through loans for agriculture and through state programs.

For registration, it is necessary to pay a state duty in the amount of 4,000 rubles, submit application No. P11001, prepare the charter of the LLC and a decision on its opening, certify copies of the passports of all founders with a notary, write an application for switching to the chosen form of taxation.

The authorized capital of the enterprise must be at least 10,000 rubles.

Documentation

Documentation of your own farm has an important role in this matter. Mushroom business in Russia does not provide for obtaining a special certificate.

However, in order to become a successful seller of your products, you will need the result of a laboratory study. You can get it from the food lab. Its employees often additionally ask for the preparation of a security protocol. For him, you will already need to do an analysis for the presence of radioactive substances and heavy metals.

Documenting the cultivation of oyster mushrooms on an industrial scale (albeit in your own basement) is an expensive and slow business. Moreover: the protocol issued as a result will need to be updated every 3 months.

Room selection

The choice of premises for creating a mushroom plantation should be carried out as responsibly as possible. It is preferable to choose sufficiently humid, but not too hot places. If we are talking about the very beginning of a business, then a basement or cellar of a house may come up. As the business develops, old cowsheds, vegetable stores and similar buildings can be purchased and converted. In extreme cases, you can buy a special greenhouse.

Room requirements:

1. Residual moisture.
2. High-quality ventilation, but without drafts (if no other option is suitable, you can make several holes in the lower part of the wall and extend the hood).
3. The ability to adjust the temperature (especially important in winter).
4. Mandatory disinfection before planting.

A few words about the size of the room. About 20 tons of compost for growing is placed in a truck. In order to fully distribute it and fully put it into action, you will need an area of ​​​​200 with a little square meters. The internal space is divided into sections, in which multi-level (depending on the height of the ceiling) racks are installed.

Each truss must have at least two aisles. According to the first, the harvested crop will be exported, it can be made narrower, the second should be much wider - the soil will be loaded along it.

Additional premises include a boiler room, a pair of refrigerators for storing collected mushrooms, an area for packaging and a variety of technical rooms: change houses, a toilet and others. As a result, the total area of ​​the farm grows to almost 1-1.5 thousand square meters. Of course, at first, you can get by with more modest premises.

If you plan to grow oyster mushrooms year-round and completely on your own, you will have to provide for several additional premises:

• Inoculation room, where mushroom blocks will be formed from the finished substrate in bags, into which mycelium is then sown.
• Incubation room for sprouting mycelium.
• Cultivation room for forcing the fruiting body (the largest room, the blocks are strung on rods, laid out on multi-tiered racks or suspended).

The first thing you need is a high-quality ventilation and air conditioning system, which will be used to maintain optimal temperature and humidity.

Water-heating boilers are used for additional heating in winter. Ideally, it is recommended to purchase several full-fledged climatic installations that will help regulate the atmospheric parameters for mushrooms at different stages of ripening.

Refrigerators are used to store finished products. It is very important that they keep mushrooms only for a period of three days. In addition, for proper air circulation, they must be filled no more than half.

The premises will require a large number of shelving. Also, depending on the specific variety, bags or boxes will be required for production.

Staff

The vast majority of responsibilities rest with the owner. It is he, at least at the start, who deals with delivery and sales. Very often at the beginning of work, when several relatives are involved in the business, one is responsible for the supply, while the rest are directly involved in growing, fertilizing, planting, etc.

As the farm grows and the production of mushrooms expands, it will become increasingly difficult to cope with everything. At a certain stage, inviting new employees to your small business will become an urgent need. However, there are no special requirements for employees in this matter - they will only need conscientiousness, the absence of bad habits and the presence of a medical book.

Considering that not a single educational institution in the country has a department of mushroom science, it will be simply impossible to find a qualified specialist. Of course, there is always a chance that an experienced person will come across. In this case, it is highly recommended to set his wages depending on the output.

It is difficult to say what the total number of employees for breeding will be required. For growing oyster mushrooms at home, one assistant will be enough. If we are talking about a harvest of a centner daily, then you will need to attract at least a couple of employees.

At the same time, they will deal only with the mushrooms themselves, while additional forces will be required for the marketing of products, the preparation of raw materials for production and the position of an accountant. Of course, one person, if desired, can combine several roles.

Approximate calculation

An approximate analysis of the expenses and incomes of a large enterprise can be seen in the table.

	Starting costs	Sum
1	Renting or buying a piece of land or a building	1,000,000 rubles
2	Purchase of equipment	500 000 rubles
3	Company registration, advertising costs	100 000 rubles
	Monthly expenses
1	Employee salary	150 000 rubles
2	Advertising	5 000 rubles
3	Maintenance costs	15 000 rubles
	Income
1	Profit from processing at the wholesale price of 1 kg of mushrooms at 14 rubles	1,400,000 rubles

There are two important points to note here:

1. These calculations assume a large farm with about 100 tons of growing compost, if the scale is reduced, the costs will be lower.
2. The data are given based on one processing cycle, but there can be up to four in a year.

Summarizing all of the above, it can be noted that the net profit for one two-month growing cycle will be up to 780 thousand rubles. As a result, according to experts, the full payback period of the oyster mushroom farm will be about two years.

Those interested can download another .

Competition and risks

Separately, it is worth noting the issue of competition. Currently, its level on the market can be assessed as quite low, which, coupled with low requirements for starting a business, makes it especially profitable for beginners. Imported products left the domestic market not so long ago, but the price level has been preserved, and the demand for mushrooms is consistently high.

Competition should be feared for the most part from larger manufacturers engaged in industrial breeding. However, there are not so many of them on the market today, so there is no need to fear serious opposition to expansion. The risks in this area are also not too high, given the undemanding investment.

conclusions

The main advantage is high profitability. The advantage is that there is no need for significant investments at the initial stage. At the same time, the income is quite good - it reaches 650 rubles from each processed square meter in 1.5 months.

Another undeniable advantage is ease of use. Oyster mushrooms require much less care than other mushrooms, including and.

Experienced businessmen, however, do not deny the presence of a number of difficulties, but they all relate to the initial stages of establishing a process and marketing. After settling these points, everything becomes much easier and all that remains is to harvest and sell the crop.

Video: technology for growing oyster mushrooms.

This business is worth doing for many reasons. These include the fact that mushrooms grow in about 3 weeks. Mushrooms do not require special care. You can grow mushrooms throughout the year. The cost of mushrooms in winter can increase to 200-250 rubles per 1 kilogram.

Often, mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms are chosen for cultivation, as they provide the greatest benefit.

Before opening a mushroom growing business, one should obtain a food trading license and a sanitary license. Mushrooms as a food have high requirements that must be met in order to run a successful business.

You can choose any room for growing mushrooms, there are no special requirements for it. The area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room can also be any, depending on how much you are going to grow mushrooms.

There are also no high requirements for personnel. Education can be anything. The main thing is that the staff has a sanitary book and the desire to grow mushrooms. A well-chosen team is already half the success.

To grow mushrooms you will need the following equipment

• cooling chamber
• heaters
• humidifiers
• greenhouse

You can sell grown mushrooms by selling them on the market, retail outlets, through shops, food facilities, canteens, and so on. The larger the batch of mushrooms, the lower their wholesale cost will be, however, due to the large number of mushrooms, the profit will be greater than from retail sales.

To increase the chances of success, it is necessary to draw up a good business plan for growing mushrooms. Below are a few of them.

Download farming business plan

- describes the process of creating and justifying a business for the industrial cultivation of oyster mushrooms. A distinctive feature of this example is the presence of a financial model in it. This plan also takes into account the development trends of the mushroom market for several years ahead. It also contains visual graphs and examples of calculations.

- In this regard, an example is the creation of an enterprise for the cultivation and sale of mushrooms such as champignons. This example will serve well for aspiring entrepreneurs with different income levels. It contains information about the market analysis, a sales plan and pricing is presented, possible risks are also assessed and the economic effect is calculated.

– This example describes a project to create a large complex for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. The purpose of this plan is to justify the effectiveness of this project and attract outside investors. It contains the company's strategy, assessment of strengths, weaknesses, risks (SWOT analysis), business promotion and its marketing policy, etc.

- will be useful for small entrepreneurs who do not have large funds at their disposal. This plan justifies the opening of a small business for growing mushrooms on a personal plot, with a view to their further implementation. In the future, it is planned to expand the business to industrial volumes and organize permanent sales and production.

Briefly touching on all aspects of the cultivation and sale of mushrooms. Arguments are given in favor of growing both oyster mushrooms and champignons, however, financial calculations are given specifically for the technology of growing champignons.

In which special attention is paid to the technology of growing and caring for champignons. By adhering to the proposed scheme, you can achieve a rich harvest in 30-40 days from the date of sowing. The profitability of such a business will be about 50%.

In the proposed business plan, the entire production process is divided into three main stages. The first, "mycelium production" is optional, since it is relevant only for large farms. The rest - "substrate preparation" and "sales of products" are universal.

According to which, the profitability of such a business will be 100%. Since the main costs will come down to buying a bag of nutrient medium. Such a business plan is especially convenient, since the cultivation of oyster mushrooms does not depend on the season of the year, and demand increases every year.

In which the technology for the production of oyster mushrooms is described in detail and advice is given on organizing the marketing of manufactured products. A separate item lists expenses, prudently divided into one-time initial and regular.

In which, in addition to the issues of growing directly mushroom products, attention is paid to the production of the substrate. The nutrient medium of own production often turns out to be more cost-effective, both in terms of resources spent and in terms of increased yields, thanks to the bio-additives used.

The total cost of the project is slightly more than 65 thousand rubles. According to the business plan, it is planned to sell 1.2 tons of mushroom products in the first year. Tables of calculations for the purchase of equipment are given and an approximate marketing plan is drawn up.

In which the initial investment in the business is 250 thousand rubles. The payback of the economy is no more than six months, and with a well-established sales of products, there are opportunities to expand the business. The profitability of such a business ranges from 40 to 100%.

The business plan lists 5 different systems for organizing the cultivation of champignons and provides arguments both for and against each of the above technologies. In addition, all important aspects of sales planning and legal registration of activities are briefly described.

Which explains in detail all stages of the production of mushroom products. The purchase of equipment, according to such a plan, will cost you from 50 to 90 thousand rubles. All other money will go to the purchase of nutrient substrate and mycelium.

Setting itself the goal of organizing the production of mushrooms at minimal cost. Homestead farming is used as the basis for organizing production, and in the first year it is planned to collect and sell at least 2 tons of mushroom products.

Growing mushrooms as a business is suitable for an entrepreneur with a small start-up capital. Mushroom growing has every prospect of growing into a profitable business, provided that not only money is invested in it, but also professional knowledge.

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The relevance of the mushroom growing business

The mushroom growing niche is being actively explored by entrepreneurs. This is due to the fact that the business does not require large start-up costs, and the products are in high demand all year round. Despite the obvious relevance of this type of activity, at present the market can be called low-competitive.

Compared to growing other vegetable crops, mushroom growing does not require the construction of special expensive greenhouses. In addition, the cultivation technology itself is quite simple and can be mastered even by an inexperienced entrepreneur. All this allows you to quickly earn and recoup investments.

Growing mushrooms becomes profitable for the following reasons:

• there is no need to provide expensive care;
• it is possible to organize a small farm at home;
• fast ripening rate of the crop: from 3 weeks;
• there is a winter season of "high prices".

Before organizing a mushroom growing business, you should decide on their assortment and types, each of which requires special care.

What mushrooms to choose for cultivation?

Oyster mushrooms Champignons White mushrooms Truffles

In the Russian market, the following types of mushrooms are most often chosen for cultivation:

• oyster mushrooms;
• Champignon;
• Forest mushrooms;
• truffles.

Oyster mushrooms are a very popular and most unpretentious species. It attracts a novice entrepreneur with its high yield: up to 14 kg of mushrooms can be harvested from one square meter. In this case, the first collection is possible in a month. Oyster mushrooms are a valuable species containing many nutrients and vitamins. However, in the process of growing, some of its shortcomings appear.

Disadvantages of oyster mushroom:

• fragility: this mushroom is difficult to transport over long distances;
• exactingness to a special temperature regime and the fastest possible delivery;
• unexpressed mushroom aroma;
• possible allergy to spores.

Many mushroom growers agree that champignons are more difficult to grow than oyster mushrooms. They require special quality mycelium and growth media. In addition, mushrooms need special humidity and temperature conditions. Mushrooms grow in racks and boxes. Within a month they reach the required growth and after three months they are already harvesting their crops.

The most common wild mushroom for cultivation is porcini. This is the most valuable mushroom in terms of taste, which can be grown only when conditions of the natural environment are created. The germination of this species is possible only in symbiosis with the roots of trees, so the cultivation of the white fungus occurs in groves and coniferous forests.

Growing truffles is an extremely profitable and, at the same time, an extremely risky business. They grow under oak trees. Seedlings are placed under sterile conditions and then transported to the farm. The fungus requires special, enriched with various elements, compost.

According to entrepreneurs, you should start with the most unpretentious, but no less tasty and nutritious mushrooms - oyster mushrooms. In the future, it is also possible to organize the production of truffles and some types of forest mushrooms.

Necessary conditions for growing oyster mushrooms and.

Description and analysis of the market

Until 2014, the mushroom market in Russia consisted almost entirely of imported products. After the introduction of import restrictions, foreign products reduced their volumes, which allowed domestic producers to increase the cost of mushrooms grown on their own, without reducing demand. The magazine "School of mushroom growing" for 2015 published data on an increase in the production of oyster mushrooms by 17% compared to the data for 2014 of the same period.

Today, the market volume in Russia is about 60 thousand tons. About 160 thousand tons of mushrooms are required to cover import substitution. Such data, together with the low level of competition in the market, is a good indicator for organizing your own farm.

Market analysis shows that the demand for products depends on the location. The most successful for making money are small cities and even arid villages - those places where there are also few forest mushrooms grown in natural conditions.

The most common mushrooms grown in Russia are champignons and oyster mushrooms. The most popular format for doing this business is small farms with a yield of 3-5 tons per year.

The largest Russian producer of oyster mushrooms "Kaskad" is located in the Rostov region. The leaders in terms of production are the Central, Volga and Southern Federal Districts.

According to the marketing research “Analysis of the world and Russian markets for mushrooms and mushroom products. Forecast until 2014”, by EVENTUS Consulting, the volume of domestic production should increase by 2.5-3 times.

Reasons:

• relatively low consumption of mushrooms per person and the growth potential of this indicator;
• the ability of manufacturers to compete on price and types of products;
• the growth of economic indicators and the desire for a healthy lifestyle of the population.

The target audience

The target audience of this type of activity is both individuals over 30 years old, striving for a healthy and varied diet, as well as large enterprises and suppliers.

Among them:

• grocery stores and supermarkets;
• catering establishments;
• animal enterprises;
• mushroom wholesalers.

Competitive advantages

The competitive environment in this area can currently be defined as low. However, the market is evolving and you should define your own advantages.

They can become:

• constant support of high quality and freshness of products;
• uninterrupted delivery of mushrooms;
• monitoring and introduction of new technologies into production;
• use only proven suppliers of mycelium;
• the ability to work with both legal entities and individuals;
• discounts for bulk purchase;
• flexible pricing policy.

To minimize losses and provide an additional assortment to the buyer, an entrepreneur can open his own line for processing mushrooms or manufacturing semi-finished products.

Advertising campaign

To promote a product on the market, it is necessary to make it a recognizable brand with its own history. The basis for the formation of the company's image is the presence of an informative website with product characteristics and elements of corporate identity.

• Name;
• logo;
• corporate video with footage of production and products.

To work with legal entities and representatives of large retail chains, it is important:

• produce good quality information materials;
• develop a strategy for presence in the online environment;
• develop methods of additional competitive advantages.

For promotion among individuals, you can use:

• placement of outdoor advertising at points of sale;
• holding promotions and tastings;
• development of social networks and attraction with non-standard content.

Step-by-step instructions for opening a mushroom farm

To implement the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bgrowing mushrooms at home, you must:

1. Analyze the market.
2. Write a detailed business plan.
3. Pass state registration and choose the form of taxation.
4. Select mycelium and find substrate suppliers.
5. Develop a technology for making compost.
6. Find and prepare a room.
7. Start growing products and adjust technology.
8. Search for marketing channels.
9. Produce sales of products and establish contacts with wholesale customers.

Documentation

Business registration involves the possibility of registration in several forms:

• Individual entrepreneurship (IP);
• Limited Liability Company (LLC);
• Peasant farming (KFH).

The IP form allows you to both grow and sell mushrooms.

• certified application by a notary in the form No. P21001;
• an application for the transition to the ESHN or USN (otherwise it will be OSNO by default);
• copy of all pages of the passport.

The LLC form makes it possible to attract additional financial assets through government programs and loans.

Requires the following documents for registration:

• application in the form No. Р11001;
• charter of LLC;
• a decision to open an LLC or a protocol, if there are several founders (partners);
• receipt of payment of state duty;
• copies of the founders' passports certified by a notary;
• application for the transition to the unified agricultural tax or simplified tax system (the default will be general).

KFH is a simplified form of LLP (limited liability partnership), as well as IP and LLC are endowed with legal force.

OKVED codes, under which the mushroom growing business falls:

• 01.13 "Growing vegetables, melons, root and tuber crops, mushrooms and truffles";
• 01.13.6 "Cultivation of mushrooms and truffles".

After growing a batch of mushrooms, it is necessary to obtain documents for the products.

Namely:

• quality certificate;
• declaration of conformity with the state standard;
• phytosanitary certificate;
• conclusion about the radiological examination.

Mushroom farm space

The organization of mushroom growing is beneficial, among other things, due to the absence of high costs for finding and preparing premises.

At home, a suitable room can be:

• basement;
• barn;
• cottage or village house;
• abandoned agricultural or industrial buildings.

Basic requirements for the premises:

• air temperature from 12-25°C;
• air humidity not less than 85%;
• availability of communications: electricity and water supply;
• connected heating and ventilation.

For small rooms, additional air humidification is not required. However, for large-scale production, a special humidification and conditioning system is required. Inside large rooms, cultivation chambers are also used, which allow maintaining an optimal microclimate.

Production zones:

• a warm zone for sprouting mycelium with an irrigation system and good ventilation;
• cool area for planting mushrooms.

If you plan to produce compost yourself, then you need to organize an additional area with a grinder and equipment for pasteurization.

Equipment and inventory

For growing mushrooms at home, equipment and supplies are required:

Name	Quantity, pcs.	price, rub.	Amount, rub.
Hammer crusher
Humidifier
Heater
steam generator
Exhaust fan
pasteurization container
Polyethylene bags
garden pitchfork
Formalin solution, kg
Household boxes
cooling chamber

Hammer crusher 35 000 rub. Humidifier 20 000 rub. Steam generator 38 000 rub. Polyethylene bag 250 rub.

For large-scale production, additional equipment will be required:

• climatic installations depending on the cultivated species;
• autoclave for the manufacture of mycelium;
• special equipment for pasture of mushroom fruiting bodies;
• substrate preparation machines;
• racks for camera equipment;
• Packaging equipment.

Mycelium

The choice of mycelium should be approached especially carefully, since the yield and income of the entrepreneur depends on its quality.

Mycelium is the seed material, which is the vegetative body of fungi, consisting of thin, branched filaments called hyphae.

It is worth buying mycelium only in specialized laboratory companies. At the initial stage, it is recommended to purchase from several suppliers with a good reputation and draw a conclusion based on your own experience.

The supplier is selected according to the following criteria:

• availability of licenses and quality certificates;
• the presence of positive feedback from customers;
• product quality;
• average market value.

The shelf life of mycelium is up to 120 days at a temperature of +2 degrees, so its purchase is carried out several times a year.

When buying, you should pay attention to the following product characteristics:

• strain and variety of fungus;
• speed and percentage of grain fouling;
• storage period;
• mold resistance;
• internal temperature + 20-22 degrees;
• absence of black or green spots with an ammonia smell.

Mycelium is used to prepare the substrate. Over time, you can make it yourself. This process is quite complicated and requires additional premises and professional skills. However, substrate components are inexpensive, so if done well, making seed can save a lot of money.

The main stages of preparing the substrate at home:

1. Straw or sawdust are steamed in hot water at the rate of 1 kg of mycelium per 10 kg of substrate.
2. The resulting mixture is cooled, combined with mycelium and placed in plastic bags. The mycelium is crushed without opening the bags and its temperature is equalized with the substrate. The laying of the mycelium and the opening of the package is carried out under sterile conditions with the treatment with a disinfectant solution.
3. In the resulting bags with a clean object, holes of 0.5 cm are made at an angle of 45 degrees at a distance of 10-15 cm. Mushroom blocks are installed so that the sides with slots are ventilated and are not on the side of the wall.
4. Bags of 10-12 kg are sent to the shelves in a room without light penetration at a temperature of +18-20ºС. During the incubation period, the room is not ventilated. It is mandatory to carry out daily cleaning with chloride solutions.

Staff

Often mushroom production starts as a family business. This reduces the cost of wages and allows you not to worry about the responsibility of employees.

However, with the expansion of production, additional staff of qualified specialists will be needed. On average, it takes 1 worker to harvest up to 100 kg per day.

Thus, the composition of the staff of the mushroom farm:

Job title	Number of people	Salary, rub.	Monthly payment fund, rub.
production worker
support worker

Production responsibilities include:

• harvesting;
• monitoring of growing processes and timely adjustment;
• reporting;
• creation of conditions for the productive functioning of production;
• formation of applications for the purchase of mycelium and cultivation of compost.

The auxiliary worker is the main production assistant and performs the operational instructions of the manager.

Financial plan

Mushroom growing is a business with an average start-up cost. The amount of investment, recurring costs and income depends on the planning of scale. Drawing up a financial plan with exact numbers will help calculate the main indicators and make the project profitable. You can download a ready-made business plan on many sites, but all indicators should be adjusted to the characteristics of a particular region.

How much does it cost to open a mushroom farm?

Startup costs will be:

Item of expenses	price, rub.
Premises for rent
Repair and communication
Purchase of mycelium and substrate
Purchase of equipment
Registering an enterprise and obtaining the necessary licenses
Searching for sales channels and establishing contacts
Other types of expenses, including contingencies
Salary to staff for the first month

Recurring costs

Monthly cost items will be:

Income

To calculate the profitability per month, you should determine the income from one cycle. There can be 4-6 such cycles per year.

10 tons of substrate give about 2 tons of mushrooms. The average selling price is 150 rubles. per kilogram. Thus, the net profit per month will be 150 thousand rubles.

Business income per month 42 thousand rubles.

Calendar plan

The plan for launching the enterprise is designed for 4 months. A feature of the calendar plan will be the receipt of additional certificates for products, which are possible only after the cultivation of the first batch. Similarly with the establishment of distribution channels.

Stage	1 month	2 months	3 months	4 months	5 months
Market analysis	+	+
Business plan preparation		+
Registration of a package of documents		+
Obtaining Additional Permissions		+			+
Premises for rent		+
Repair work		+	+
Purchasing and stocking		+	+
Recruitment		+
Establishment of sales channels					+
Opening				+

Risks and payback

The payback period of the project with a stable yield and organized marketing is 16 months.

After the project reaches the break-even point, the following prospects can be distinguished:

• increase in selling prices for products;
• increase in production volumes;
• expansion of views;
• availability of additional distribution channels and wholesale customers.

Like any business related to the cultivation of products, mushroom growing is associated with certain risks.

Risks and ways to minimize them:

1. Unsold goods and damage to the presentation. You should think over the distribution channels in advance and purchase a refrigerator for short-term storage of products.
2. Insufficient yield. You should study the market for bioadditives and, if necessary, change the supplier of mycelium.
3. Unforeseen costs associated with lack of experience. It will help the study of special literature and acquaintances in order to exchange experience.
4. The growth of competition. It is necessary to monitor the observance of the balance "price - quality" and work on expanding the service.

A business with low competition is attractive to an entrepreneur as highly profitable. But it is often associated with the lack of development of a niche and the lack of professional knowledge of the organizer himself. A systematic study of the specifics of the activity and the prompt change of negative factors will lead to the expansion of the business and its successful functioning.