The increasing recognition of mushrooms’ properties has boosted their consumption around the world but their production is naturally limited to the countries where environmental conditions are favourable for their growth. In the rest of countries, costly indoor facilities are required or mushroom must be imported directly. Due to their highly perishable nature, mushrooms are mostly transported once they have been processed (canned, dried or frozen) although consumption patterns suggest consumers’ preference for fresh product. On the other hand, growers who want to succeed in the sector encounter serious limitations, related to the difficulty to have guaranteed a constant and cost-effective supply of substrate (the limited number of substrate producers results in higher prices and the need to deliver the product to a different country or even continent is also supported by the grower, reducing their profitability) and the high initial investment costs required to build and operate an indoor fixed facility, which stops new growers to enter the business.
The Spanish company Hongo’s Biofactory has developed the Fungitainer system, a modular farm system housed inside shipping containers. The system is composed by the Fungitainer Substrate container, for high-efficiency substrate production and the Fungitainer Grow container, which provides the optimum controlled environment for growing any edible and medicinal mushroom anywhere in the world (regardless of the outdoor conditions) all year round. Besides, substrate is produced making use of local agriculture and livestock waste, valorising these residues (in line with the Circular Economy approach). Thanks to Fungitainer modularity and low investment cost (90% cheaper than traditional solutions), the system adapts to meet the needs of small and large-scale growers. Investment is recovered in 1.9 years. Fungitainer solution also includes support during the whole production process thanks to Hongo’s Biofactory extensive expertise.
