{"id":72075,"date":"2018-08-16T16:23:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T21:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=72075"},"modified":"2018-10-09T17:08:11","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T22:08:11","slug":"for-one-urban-farmer-the-future-is-fungi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-one-urban-farmer-the-future-is-fungi\/","title":{"rendered":"For one urban farmer, the future is fungi"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexis Shanes<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Terry Noland\u2019s 1958 rockabilly hit \u201cThere Was A Fungus Among Us\u201d may not have been a direct reference to mushrooms when it was released. But the title merits momentum today, when there are many fungi among us in nature and in our kitchens. Researchers\u00a0 have recruited them for soil remediation, water filtration and even oil spill cleanup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call them the digestive system of the Earth,\u201d said Belkacem El Metennani, owner and sole operator of a small Chicago mushroom farm. \u201cWhen a tree falls down, mushrooms decompose it and turn it into a compost, into a fertilizer, for the rest of the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bBut despite their purported versatility, the power of mushrooms remains largely untapped, El Metennani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMushrooms are understudied,\u201d he said. \u201cThe benefits they offer us are huge, yet we don\u2019t really have a thorough use of them. I\u2019ve been going to markets and find only white button mushrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longtime chef decided to do something about the mushroom void. After leaving the restaurant business, El Metennani founded an urban fungi farm, Fruiting Mushrooms, hoping to emphasize the importance of locally produced organic food, he said. He incubated the start-up in a basement area in The Plant, a meatpacking facility-turned-sustainability destination for small food businesses in Chicago\u2019s Back of the Yards neighborhood. He is in the process of moving and expanding.<\/p>\n

El Metennari grows three types of mushrooms, which he distributes to local markets via Midwest wholesaler Local Foods.<\/p>\n

Oyster mushrooms, his most popular variety, are ready for harvest just two to three days after they \u201cpin,\u201d or sprout, he said.<\/p>\n

Lion\u2019s mane mushrooms, which look more like cheerleader pom-poms than fungi, take slightly longer to grow and are known for their flavor properties.<\/p>\n

And reddish-brown reishi mushrooms, which convey their medicinal qualities through teas and soups, are called \u201cimmortality mushrooms\u201d in their native China, he added.<\/p>\n

When most people think of medicinal mushrooms, they imagine \u201cmagic\u201d hallucinogenic properties, El Metennani said. However, fungi actually can ease serious conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson\u2019s disease: \u201cThey go directly to our nervous system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And because mushrooms are nutrient-rich and quick-growing, they\u2019re a cheap, efficient source of vitamin inputs for pharmaceutical companies, he said. \u201cThey use mushrooms to extract the supplement and add them into your capsules and pills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fruiting Mushrooms production system is what El Metennani calls \u201cagriculture for the future.\u201d The farm, which produces three varieties of exotic mushrooms, is powered primarily by solar and wind energy supplied by The Plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our concept, we use only 5 percent of the water that we normally use in conventional agriculture trying to grow mushrooms,\u201d El Metennani added, noting that Fruiting Mushrooms uses mostly repurposed rainwater to meet moisture requirements.<\/p>\n

Even the mushrooms subsist on recycled materials, he said. \u201cWhat other people do not use, we use,\u201d El Metennani said. \u201cNothing goes to waste. We use sawdust. We use spent grain from breweries. We use wood chips. Mushrooms love to grow on that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike fruits and vegetables, mushrooms don\u2019t rely on sun, soil and water to grow. Instead of deriving fuel from photosynthesis, fungi result from single-celled units called spores. When spores germinate, they produce masses of interwoven structures called mycelium.<\/p>\n

El Metennani combines mycelium with recycled materials to build punching bag-like growing structures. The vertical system is an attempt to mimic nature, he said, adding that humidity, light, temperature and carbon dioxide levels are carefully regulated in the production area.<\/p>\n

This recycling system is an example of closed-loop production, meaning outputs from one process are inputs for another, said Stef Funk, education associate at Plant Chicago, a non-profit organization that supports businesses at The Plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re redefining what waste means,\u201d Funk said. \u201cWe want to connect that waste portion back to the beginning, do a little extra legwork to reintegrate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effort isn\u2019t just an attempt to save money or alleviate the landfill eyesore \u2014 it has a significant impact on air quality, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen organic matter breaks down, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas,\u201d Funk said. \u201cMethane stays in our atmosphere for longer than carbon dioxide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, El Metennani is at the forefront of an initiative to convert an abandoned school in Garfield Park into an agricultural facility, bringing the closed loop cycle to a new space. Eventually, the 75,000 square foot space will house 12 to 15 farms, all sharing laboratory, processing, production and packing areas, he said.<\/p>\n

And for El Metennari, the local aspect of production is just as important as the mushrooms themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be something accessible to people who want to be farmers but cannot afford to have their own farm,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are trying to make use of abandoned buildings in bad neighborhoods and try to participate in outreach, and at the same time, introduce technology with this concept.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mushrooms are the perfect medium to pursue that larger mission, El Metennari said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a huge component of our lives,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Oyster mushrooms are known for their culinary versatility. (Bruce Hallman\/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alexis Shanes Medill Reports Terry Noland\u2019s 1958 rockabilly hit \u201cThere Was A Fungus Among Us\u201d may not have been a direct reference to mushrooms when it was released. But the title merits momentum today, when there are many fungi among us in nature and in our kitchens. Researchers\u00a0 have recruited them for soil remediation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":500,"featured_media":72076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,27,28,29,30,4390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-business","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","category-summer-2018"],"yoast_head":"\nFor one urban farmer, the future is fungi - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-one-urban-farmer-the-future-is-fungi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For one urban farmer, the future is fungi - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alexis Shanes Medill Reports Terry Noland\u2019s 1958 rockabilly hit \u201cThere Was A Fungus Among Us\u201d may not have been a direct reference to mushrooms when it was released. 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