9 Mushroom type
Shiitake, bag Shiitake, log
Winter mushroom King oyster
Oyster mushroom Wood ear TOTAL:
Households
(TMDA statistics 2011) 581
132 22 39
185 122
1081
together, the JCRR and TARI developed a substrate composed of chemical fertilizers and rice stock, or alternatively wheat or citronella grass stocks. In 1954, 100 retired servicemen were resettled in the mountains west of Taichung where they cultivated white buttons in simple bamboo sheds covered by thatched roofs. Three years later, in 1957, trial exports of canned white buttons began, and due to their low price, and found a ready market with US food com- panies such as The Borden Company and The Green Giant Company. Everyone wanted in on the business of exporting the common white button, Agaricus bisporus, to the U.S. In Taiwan, 50,000 farmers were involved with another 25,000 people employed in the processing and commercial ends. By the mid-1960s, 80 percent of the mushrooms sold in the US came from Taiwan, and Pennsylvanian growers were petitioning their senators. The boom only lasted two decades, and exports of white buttons ended by the 1980s. Taiwan was emerging as a manufacturing powerhouse, and costs were rising and its currency appreciating. But among the island’s farmers, a lasting impression lingered: Mushrooms equal money.
King oyster: A Taiwan first? Today white buttons are a minor crop in Taiwan, pro- duced mostly near southerly Tainan where 315,726 square meters of beds are devoted to it. Local con- sumers don’t much like it. Instead the home market is dominated by three varieties - winter mushroom (1972), shiitake (1974) and king oyster (1991) - all developed by TARI. The king oyster may be a Taiwan first. Commercial production in Taiwan began in 1991, a few years be- fore it spread to Japan, South Korea and later China. According to Dr. Shih, samples of the microorganism were brought to Taiwan by now retired TARI scientist, Dr. J. T. Peng, a name well know in the mycological literature. “Dr. Peng brought it to Taiwan from France for breeding, and that is why we call him the Father of the King Oyster.” First, Dr. Peng improved the taste of the king oyster, and then developed a commercial cultivation protocol. “Back then, intellectual property
wasn’t a consideration,” said Dr. Shih, so TARI’s effort with the king oyster wasn’t patented. Getting the king oyster, a Mediterranean species, to thrive in subtropical Taiwan required a switch to en- vironmentally controlled production. One of the first growers to give it a try was Wang You-ching, founder of Ching-sung Nungchang, a four-hectare facility that produces six to seven metric tons of king oyster annually. Mr. Wang is a native of Shinshe, and famous among the island’s mushroom growers. Wang is a bit of a maverick, and along the length of his hometown’s touristy Mushroom Street, he is called ‘Teacher’. His first claim to fame was with shiitake. Early growers located their farms in the high mountains, but Wang, as a 22-year-old, lowly paid elementary school teacher, decided to cultivate in lower lying Shinshe. By 1987, he had 20 hectares in production, and his neighbors followed suit, and Shinshe evolved from an area of mixed agriculture to a hub of outdoor shiitake production. After TARI introduced the king oyster, Wang took his expertise indoors. “Environmentally controlled production is more stable,” said Wang. “King oyster mushrooms mature in two months, but shiitake takes six months and is subject to unpredictable weather.”
Taiwan Asia University: Functional mushroom products TARI has introduced a host of other mushrooms to the
Mr. Wang You-ching, founder of Ching-sung Nungchang.
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Dr. Hsin-Der Shih, head of the Mushroom Lab of TARI at a growing shed.
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