Mushrooms are one of the most sustainable products on our planet!
- Mushrooms need little water to grow compared to other foods. The 6.8lt of water required to produce about ½kg of mushrooms is only a fraction of the water required to produce many other foods.
- Thousands of tons of mushrooms are produced on just a few acres of land. The small growing space of the mushrooms allows the soil to have high yields. More specifically, the yield of 7.1 kg of mushrooms per 1m² is achieved in part because the mushroom substrates are stacked on high shelves in the cultivation facilities, allowing a large volume of mushrooms to be grown in a relatively small space.
- Mushroom production has an extremely low energy expenditure. For the production of ½kg of mushrooms, 1.0kwh of energy is required! To determine energy use, energy consumed during harvesting & production was factored in.
- During mushroom production, CO₂ emissions are extremely low. For the production of ½kg of mushrooms, only 0.3175 equivalents of CO₂ emissions are produced. CO2 equivalent emissions were calculated by tracking the total emissions from electricity and fuel used for equipment and farming operations (eg heating, cooling, etc.).
Mushrooms are not only a healthy but also a sustainable choice!