UA Green Fund Proposal: Production of Edible Gourmet Mushrooms from Common Landscaping and Consumer Waste Products

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UA GREEN FUND PROPOSAL
Production of edible gourmet mushrooms from common
landscaping and consumer waste products
Project director: Barry Pryor, School of Plant Sciences
Business Manager: Donna-Rae Marquez, School of Plant Sciences
1. Project Abstract (250 words)
Fungi are the premier recyclers of the planet and are capable of breaking down almost any
natural or man-made product. Following a period of growth, certain fungi also produce
structures known as mushrooms, many of which are deliciously edible and amazingly nutritious.
This proposal seeks to develop systems whereby fungi are used to recycle some common waste
products generated across the UofA campus, both landscape and consumer waste, and convert
these waste products into edible gourmet mushrooms. The project PI is Dr. Barry Pryor, School
of Plant Sciences. The initial target landscape wastes are mesquite pods, especially those that are
deemed unsuitable for milling and consumption. The initial target consumer wastes are coffee
grounds and used pizza boxes, both of which are generated in high volume across campus.
Students in the laboratory of Dr. Pryor have successfully produced test crops of gourmet
mushrooms on both mesquite pods and coffee grounds/cardboard substrates and this proposal
seeks to scale up the process for higher volume production. We hope to develop a simple
mushroom production-recycling program on the UofA campus that can be emulated by any
Arizona student or homeowner, or any University campus in the US. We will partner with the
UofA Student Union Memorial Center for supplies of coffee grounds and pizza boxes, and the
UofA Arboretum and the non-profit Desert Harvesters for supplies of bean pods. Other partners
include the Controlled Environment Agricultural Center, Tucson Village Farms, and the
Compost Cats. Funding request for this project is for one year.
2. Team Members and Partner Organizations
This project will involve a number of distinct units from across the University of Arizona
campus and from the local community.
1. Barry Pryor, Associate Professor, Plant Sciences (bmpryor@u.arizona.edu)
2. Cheiri Kubota, Professor, UA Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, Plant Sciences
(ckubota@email.arizona.edu)
3. Elizabeth Sparks, Extension Agent, Pima County Cooperative Extension
(esparks@ag.arizona.edu)
4. Tanya Quist, Director, UA Arboretum (tquist@email.arizona.edu)
5. Melanie Lenart, Technical Expert, Soil, Water, Environmental Studies, and LEAF:Linking
Edible Arizona Forests (mlenart@email.arizona.edu)
6. Chet Phillips, UA Compost Cats Supervisor (cfp@email.arizona.edu)
7. Chris Kopach, Director, UA Facilities Management (kopach@fm.arizona.edu)
8. Lei Florentino, Manager, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona
(lflorentino@communityfoodbank.org)
Undergraduate students directly involved in the project
1. Lauren Jackson, Senior, Plant Sciences, Pryor Lab
2. Parker Evan, Sophomore, Plant Sciences, Pryor Lab

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3. Independent study students participating in mushroom research in the Pryor Lab. Each
semester we have between 3 and 5 students that sign up for independent study (3-5 units each).
4. Students enrolled in PLP 150C, Mushrooms, Molds, and Man (involving special projects
assigned in class).
Other Contacts. Dr. Pryor has established extensive contacts among professionals in the
commercial mushroom industry. These contacts will be valuable in the execution of this project
and will function as project advisors. These include:
1. David Bayer, Professor, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Penn State University, College Station, PA
2. Mark Wach, VP and Research Director, Sylvan Biological, Kennett Square, PA
3. Tina Ellor, Technical Director, Phillips Mushroom Farms, Kennett Square, PA
4. Christina Smith, Mushroom Geneticist, Lambert Spawn Co, Kennett Square, PA
5. Mo-Mei Chen, Research Professor, Dept. of Plant Science, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA
6. David Law, President, Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc. Sebastopol, CA
7. David Ghiglione, Production Manager, Monterey Mushrooms, Royal Oaks, CA
8. Kyle Garrone, Production Manager, Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA
9. Jack Reitnauer, Chief Operations Officer, California Mushroom Farms, Ventura, CA
10. Donnie Creekmore, Production Manager, Fungivore Mushrooms, Modesto, CA
3. Project Background and Description
Project Goals.
The overarching goal of this project is to produce food (mushrooms) from University of Arizona
waste products before such products are ultimately deposited in either the regional landfill or
local composting programs. In this way, this project hopes to promote and provide a renewable
and highly nutritional food product to the UofA student body and the Tucson community that
will contribute to health and life longevity on a personal and collective level. A secondary goal
is to educate students on the numerous opportunities to derive additional value, such as food,
from products that might normally be thought of as having a single end-of-the-line function:
waste recycling. And over the course of achieving these primary goals and secondary goals, it is
hoped that the University of Arizona can reduce its collective environmental footprint.
Introduction to Fungi.
An introduction to fungi is required for important fungal-centric projects to increase public
awareness about the impact of fungi on humans and human activities. First and foremost, fungi
intersect each and every one of our lives daily. Fungi are the premier decomposers and recyclers
on the planet. They are found worldwide, in every geographic region, and in every ecosystem.
Most fungi are terrestrial, but many are important components of both fresh and saltwater
habitats. Regardless of where they are found, they perform the same essential environmental
function: they breakdown complex substrates into simpler compounds, converting fixed
chemical elements into biologically accessible forms. Amazingly, fungi are capable of breaking
down almost any natural or man-made product, including wood, fruits and vegetables, dairy
products, paper products, textiles, plastics, masonry, computer discs, optical instruments,
petroleum products, and on and on. On the negative side, they cause incalculable damage to
agricultural and manufactured products worldwide. On the positive side, they recycle our forests
and grasslands, our fields and our farms, and renew our ecosystems in a completely sustainable
manner. They also provide medicine and industrial products for a modern society.

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Mushroom Cultivation.
As an added value, certain fungi also produce structures known as mushrooms, many of which
are deliciously edible and amazingly nutritious, promoting health and longevity. Mushrooms are
increasingly valued for their production of compounds that have anti-cholesterol, anti-oxidant,
and anti-tumor properties. They contain a near perfectly balanced source of protein, are a major
source of vitamin D, and promote both the innate and adaptive immune systems on many levels.
Most health specialists actively promote the increase consumption of mushrooms by all (see Dr.
Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid, www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02995/Dr-Weil-Anti-
Inflammatory-Food-Pyramid.html). Economically, commercial mushroom production is an
extremely profitable enterprise. Production in the US is currently valued at $1.2 billion /year
industry and has been increasing at over 8% annually for the last 10 years. This annual increase
is driven by consumer demand; Americans, and the world over, are recognizing the nutritional
value and the culinary opportunities provided by mushrooms. The majority of US production is
focused on common button or Portabella mushrooms, and this industry is dominated by large
producers or by cooperatives in Pennsylvania and California. However, much of the current
growth in mushroom consumption is focused on the gourmet mushrooms varieties; species such
as oyster, shitake, maitake, pioppino, enoki, and lions mane, which are not grown on a large
scale but are generally provided to the market by small-scale producers. Methods for production
of such specialty mushrooms are well developed, which has provided opportunity for many small
businesses to grow across the country.
Project Description.
This proposal seeks to develop small scale mushroom production systems whereby common and
gourmet mushrooms species are used to recycle some common waste products generated across
the UofA campus, both landscape and consumer waste, and convert these waste products into
nutritious edible mushroom products. The project is lead Dr. Barry Pryor, Associate Professor in
the School of Plant Sciences, and instructor for the popular General Ed course Mushrooms,
Molds, and Man. Dr. Pryor’s lab is experienced in small
scale production of common, gourmet, and medicinal
mushrooms such as button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms
(see image at left), enoki, maitake, shitake, and reishi
mushrooms. And very importantly, Dr. Pryor’s lab has
been experimenting with cultivation of these mushroom
species on a variety of novel substrates. Some novel
substrates (e.g., coffee grounds) have been successfully
used in the development of entrepreneurial companies of
recent fame, such as BackToTheRoots in Berkeley, CA (see http://www.backtotheroots.com/our-story),
which uses used coffee ground collected from the many coffee shops around the city to
grow oyster mushrooms in a small inner-city warehouse. Many other substrates have not been
previously popularized such as mesquite bean pods, yet these have been shown in our lab to
promote robust mushroom growth and are richly abundant on the UofA campus, the Tucson area,
and across the Sonoran Desert.
The initial target landscape waste includes mesquite bean pods. The UA has over 700 mature
mesquite trees on campus. Indeed, Arizona and the greater Sonoran Desert are defined by this
ubiquitous tree species. Each tree is capable of producing 50-100 lbs of pods per year, which

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calculates to well over 35,000 lbs of pods per year from the UA campus alone. Over 4 lbs of
gourmet mushrooms are typically produced from a 5 lb bag of substrate, so a conservative
estimate would place UofA mushroom production from bean pods alone at over 28,000 lbs of
mushrooms per year. Whole sale prices for gourmet mushrooms are currently between $3 to
$8/lb, depending on species. Obviously, the potential for production and profit are quite large.
Until recently, most bean pods were swept up and discarded by our UA gardening crew and by
homeowners across region, and the majority of these end up in our over-taxed landfill sites.
These pods can all be directed to mushroom production. Historically, native Americans made
use of bean pods for a variety of purposes, including direct consumption. But even at high
population density, these native peoples could only consume a fraction of the millions of pounds
produced annually across their environment. Recent interests in sustainable living has prompted
many to re-explore the use of mesquite pods for human and livestock consumption, and these
efforts are going well. However, like native Americans, there is little possibility for humans to
consume the volume produced each year across the desert. And even that which is harvested,
approximately 10%, pre- and post-milling combined, is unsuitable for human consumption and is
discarded. This discard can be directed to mushroom production as well.
The choice of consumer wastes for conversion to mushrooms is practically endless. However,
some wastes are better than others for the mushrooms we are targeting. Our initial target
consumer wastes are coffee grounds and used pizza boxes, both of which are generated in high
volume across campus. The only other closely related activity is the recently established
commercial venture BTTE (BackToTheRoots) in Berkeley, CA. Our project is similar, but more
encompassing, and is of tremendous utility. Moreover, with some process development, our
project can be modified to include other consumer waste products as well.
Progress to date.
Undergraduate students in the laboratory of Dr. Pryor have successfully produced several test
crops of oyster mushrooms on both mesquite pods and coffee grounds/cardboard substrates and
this proposal seeks to scale up the process for higher volume production. We have small
growing facilities on the main campus in the School of Plant Sciences, which if further
developed would be well suited as an educational module as well as for production. Tucson
Village Farm on Campbell Ave, which is one of our cooperators, is currently building a small
facility for development of a mushroom cultivation educational program. Likewise, if further
developed, this facility will be well suited for additional production as well as enhanced outreach
to the Tucson community on how to develop home-based mushroom production/waste recycling
program as small businesses. And finally, we hope to develop larger production facilities at the
UofA Controlled Environment Agricultural Center on Roger Road for both production and
research. Integrating mushroom production with greenhouse vegetables is a natural and
sustainable combination as the vegetables consume CO2 and release O2, and the mushrooms
consume O2 and release CO2. Moreover, the mushrooms can be grown on amended vegetable
waste thereby further extracting resources before composting.
We already have established a reliable source of coffee grounds from several of the coffee
houses across campus and hopefully will partner with the UofA Arboretum and the non-profit
Leaf program for a steady source of bean pods. The expected duration of this project is two

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years, however, only one year of funding is currently requested. Following results from the
current year, we will have the background to move forward with commercial developments.
Publicizing the project to the UA Campus and the Tucson Community.
We hope to develop a relatively simple mushroom production-recycling program on the UofA
campus that can be emulated by any student or homeowner across Arizona. With development
of our three production sites, in the Department of Plant Sciences, at the Controlled Environment
Agricultural Center, and at the Tucson Village Farms, we hope to incorporate into this project
the triad of goals for all Land Grant Universities: Education, Research, and Extension,
respectively. The proposed project will be actively promoted across the UofA campus via
several formats. The first is through advertisement in the GE class taught by PI Pryor,
Mushroom, Molds, and Man, offered every spring semester (enrollment currently at 150).
Through no-cost advertisement in this course, students will be introduced to the project, the
incredible nutritional benefits from eating mushrooms, and how they can recycle their own
kitchen waste (pizza boxes, coffee grounds) to support the project. Additionally, a pizza box
recycling program will be established as several of the resident halls, as needed, to supply the
necessary cardboard (ordinary cardboard is also suitable). Second, outreach through a
mushroom cultivation program conducted at the Tucson Village Farm will advertise the program
to the entire Tucson community. Finally, we will establish a website to inform the public of the
program and provide a site to post metrics of the program as it develops (see Metrics below).
Development of this website will be the responsibility of the project PI Pryor.
How the products of this project will be distributed across the UofA and the community.
The products from this project (mushrooms) will be provided to the community through a variety
of methods. Product will be available for sale to students through the School of Plant Sciences
offices. Proceeds will be directed back into the program for continued sustainability. Product
will also be available for free to K-12 participants in the mushroom cultivation outreach program
being developed at the Pima County Cooperative Extension Tucson Village Farm. As these
programs develop to include adult participation in Master Gardener programs, product will be
available to these participants as well. Product will be available for free to the Tucson
Community Food Bank, which have already expressed excited anticipation. And finally, product
will be directly marketed to UofA food services, and to restaurants and grocery outlets
throughout the Tucson area and region for profit.
4. Benefits to Students
The proposed project will benefit students in many ways, directly and indirectly, educationally
and nutritionally. Through the execution and advertisement of this project, UA students will
learn more about the myriad of ways recycling can be accomplished and opportunities to extract
added value from products deemed as waste. Moreover, students will become exposed to novel
and exciting entrepreneurial opportunities derived from recycling programs that may be
overlooked from more casual perspectives. Students will learn about the role of fungi in
breaking down complex substrates and how this process can be harnessed to produce food. In
this respect, fungi are an amazing instructional platform, providing lesson in biology,
reproduction, degradation, recycling nutrients, and the sustainability of ecosystems. Students will
also gain exposure and access to a highly nutritious and delicious food product, and understand
the value of health promoting compounds contained in many foods that are often not considered

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when one is simply counting calories or checking carbohydrate, fat, and sodium content. In this
respect, students will gain an appreciation for the critical role of a diverse diet on health,
longevity, and quality of life.
5. Timeline and Planned Activities.
Anticipated start date and completion date: August 1, 2013-June 30, 2014.
August. Procure supplies, production sheds, and processing equipment. Hire 0.50 FTE Research
Assistant. Initiate spawn production on grain. Note: substantial quantities of mesquite pods will
be collected in July prior to the initiation of funding. This will be coordinated with the UA
Arboretum and UA Facilities Management, and dry storage will be provided in the Plant Science
headhouse facilities on Roger Road.
September. Insure all processing equipment is fully operational and ready to receive product.
Fully secure coffee grounds source form all UA coffee houses. Secure additional coffee grounds
sources from the community (e.g., Starbucks, etc) is necessary. Promote project and the
opportunity for pizza box recycling to select resident housing. Establish pizza box pick up or
drop box locations. Begin processing mesquite beans at the CEAC facilities on Roger Road.
Complete placement of growing sheds at the CEAC facilities and insure all misting equipment
and environmental recording equipment is functional. Check Tucson Village Farms growing
facilities to insure all is operational as well. Begin 1st production run on the UofA campus in the
Plant Sciences facilities.
October through May. Begin large product runs at CEAC and TVF. Harvest 1st production run
in the Plant Sciences facility. Production runs will continue until May on a two month cycle (3
weeks spawn run, 3 weeks production run, 2 weeks clean up. Production will continue in the
Plant Sciences facility on a similar schedule. The Research Specialist and the graduate student
will be responsible for insuring proper operation of each growing facility, preparing spawn
production on grain, and keeping metrics of the project. Student assistants and interns will be
responsible for processing mesquite and coffee/box growth substrates, inoculation production
bags with spawn, harvesting and packaging as needed.
April through June. Generation of project reports, repair of production facilities, development
of commercial markets for year two production. Due to high Tucson temperature these months,
no production will occur at the CEAC or the TVF facilities. Production at the Plant Sciences
facility will continue for one month longer.
Tasks Months (August through July)
Procuring equipment, hiring staff x x
Processing mesquite pods x x
Collecting/processing coffee grounds/boxes x x x x x x x
Production runs in Plant Science facilities x x x x x x x x
Production runs at CEAC and TVF x x x x x x
Delivery of spent substrates for composting x x x x x x x
Web site development x x x x
Project reports, market developments x x x

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6. Explicit outcomes from this project.
The productive outcomes of this program are numerous and substantial. First, the UofA will
convert many landscape and consumer waste products into edible and highly nutritious food.
Second, all of the spent growth medium, former waste products that have been temporarily
diverted to food production, will resume their recycling fate and return to programs such as The
Compost Cats for further derived benefits. Important to note, spent mushroom substrate results
in a superior compost quality than would otherwise be obtained due to the added degradation of
waste products by the fungi resulting in enhanced bioavailability of many essential nutrients.
This is well known by compost producers in California and Pennsylvania where spent substrate
from commercial mushroom facilities is in high demand. Third, students will have exposure to,
participate in, and be trained in a sustainable process that enhances products derived from waste
and ultimate reduces waste. Moreover, students will gain experience and skills that prepare them
for a variety of careers, not limited to mushroom production. Fourth, outreach activities will
promote this process to the community so that the UofA can fulfill its mission to develop home-based
activities that benefit the whole state of Arizona. Fifth, this project will promote the
development small commercial businesses, which will stimulate economic growth in a new
industrial sector for Arizona. Sixth, this project will connect with, and thereby enhance, other
renewable/sustainable projects across the campus.
To our knowledge, there is no other related mushroom production-based recycling
program at any other US university campus, and thus, UofA will be the leader in an emerging
recycling/sustainable program. The only other closely related activity is a recently established
commercial venture BTTR in Berkeley, CA. Our program will be modeled in part off of their
success, but then goes beyond that program in that we will incorporate another high volume
consumer waste, used pizza boxes and other cardboard, which will allow us to grow other types
of mushrooms requiring more wood fiber (e.g., shitake). In addition, our proposed program will
be the only mushroom production activity using common tree wastes such as mesquite beans.
As stated before, this project will be a leader in the area of recycling consumer and landscaping
waste products for the production of high quality food prior to ultimate composting.
7. Future Directions and Sustainability of this Program.
We envision that our project will require two years to develop into a self-sustaining program.
Initial funding request from the Green Fund is for only one year because we believe that we first
need to establish our initial capacity (volume) in terms of waste processing and mushroom
production per unit time before downstream projections can be made. During this year, we will
focus on processing and production logistics. Most production during this period will be made
available for minimal fees to the UofA community and for free to the Food Bank. Once we have
established procedures for processing larger volumes of substrate, and have constructed the
infrastructure for producing higher volumes of mushrooms, we will begin actively advertising
and promoting our product for profit. Our reported metrics during this first year (see below) will
be used to guide the development of a marketing plan for fresh mushrooms produced to local
markets and restaurants (while still providing a portion of production to the Tucson Food Bank),
and then for the development of pre-inoculated mushroom growing kits, similar to those offered
by some of the recent start-up gourmet mushroom producers (e.g., by BTTR). At that time, we
would like to move this project into closer association with Students for Sustainability in order to
utilize their marketing and promotional assets as well as integrate students more completely into
this exciting entrepreneurial venture. Most of our raw materials for mushroom growth will be

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free, or nearly so. Additional costs for program maintenance will be primarily production bags,
packaging supplies, and equipment upkeep. We believe that future costs for program continuity
will be easily met by sales locally and perhaps regionally.
8. Project Metrics
Metrics on both the waste products utilized, the food products generated, and the
amended/improved waste delivered for composting will be recorded and posted. The project will
reduce UofA primary solid waste, both from the landscape and the residence halls. Because
there is little information as to the current level of discard, we will weigh all coffee ground waste
diverted to the program, count all pizza boxes diverted to the program, and measure the volume
of all mesquite bean pods diverted to the program. These metrics will be posted on the website
to be developed for the program so that assessments can be made as to the actual impact on
waste utilization. The output of the program, in terms of pounds of mushrooms generated, as
well as the particular variety grown, will also be measured and posted. As this metric is perhaps
the most interesting in terms of delicious deliverables, care will be given to insure these values
are posted promptly. There will also be an increase in secondary waste supplied to the Compost
Cats because all spent spawn will be directed to the UofA Compost Cats. This weight/volume
will be recorded and posted, as well as the assessment provided by the Compost Cats as to the
quality/ulitlity of the secondary wastes provided for further composting.