Project Results

About This Project

France and Europe's first agricultural region, Nouvelle Aquitaine, generates an excessive flux of lignocellulosic waste. Fortunately, this is one of mushroom's favoured food.

Our locally-led initiative of citizen-scientists will survey farms and industries, to identify knowledge about mushroom production as a waste management biotechnology.

We plan to experiment mushroom cultivation to suit local agro-industrial-based residues and aim to investigate competitivity with current waste practices.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

It is well established in the scientific community that mushroom production is a sustainable biotechnology which can valorize waste streams, add value to existing outputs and reduce environmental and economical costs through innovation. This is especially true of so-called "hard-working" or white-rot fungi.

While success of low-cost mushroom production has been demonstrated with different substrates, or "lignocellulosic" materials, it has not yet been widely adopted by established industries and is yet to become an upcycling standard.

La Nouvelle Aquitaine, first agricultural and forestry region of France, is a relevant case-study of applied mycology, or how mushroom cultivation can impact and engage with established waste practices.

What is the significance of this project?

Generally, agro-industrials residues are water-insoluble materials reported to be rich in so-called "lignocellulosic materials" that includes cellulose as the most abundant, followed by hemicellulose and lignin.

In our region, the paper and wood industries alone account for 26% (784.000t) of the global waste production from economical activity, excluding agriculture and forestry. Of those 26%, only a third is valorized, the rest being disposed or burned.

Our goal as citizen-scientists is to help realize the full potential of mushroom biotechnology as a game-changer in reducing waste accumulation. At the same time, we can help farmers by establishing cascading value chains of mushroom-derived products: high-quality food, bee or human medicines, or spent compost for ruminant feed

What are the goals of the project?

First, non-profit organization SPORADIC collects data on from numerous agro-industrial waste producers of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The results will be compiled in a podcast and showcased in exhibitions and events.

Second, we set up the infrastructure in order to experiment with positively inclined industrial lignocellulosic biomass and diverse white-rot fungi species. Applying EkoFungi's low-cost techniques, our production model is scalable up and down, that is replicable to meet major global challenges in urban and rural areas around the waste productions.

Third, we evaluate the biological efficiency of our substrates conversion and analyse the chemistry of the substrate and fruitbodies.

Now we can evaluate the production, costs and competitivity with other waste treatments.