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U.S. Organic Sales Break $50 Billion Mark
U.S. organic sales hit a record $52.5 billion in 2018, up 6.3% from the previous year.
Organic food sales accounted for $47.9 billion, an increase of 5.9% from 2017, according to the Organic Trade Association.
More than one-third of organic food sales come from fruits and vegetables. Produce sales — including all forms, not just fresh — were $17.4 billion in 2018, up 5.6%.
more»‘There’s no one around’: Pa. farmers faced with labor shortage
At Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, business is booming and the owners would like to expand. But they can’t.
There aren’t enough harvesters, the people who rise before dawn to work in dark grow houses rapidly cutting mushrooms loose from their beds.
Are Mushrooms the Best Brain Food?
When I was newly sober in 2016, mushrooms were the first thing that hooked me back into the world. Not magic mushrooms, just regular ones growing near where I lived. For whatever reason, finding them (in the wild) and chronicling them (on my phone) felt like a path back to life. There were more out there than I could have anticipated, and their variety and weirdness were incredible. It felt like a reminder of how much I had missed and how rewarding it is to pay attention.
more»A Century-Old Chester County Mushroom Farm Uses Modern, Eco-Friendly Tech, but Risks Abound
Marlboro Mushrooms dates to 1901 and holds the honor of being the oldest mushroom farm in the nation.
After more than a century in business, in 2011 the West Marlborough-based family farm invested $5 million to install seven acres of solar panels, and marked what it says is another first: It is the only solar-powered commercial mushroom farm in the country.
Chesco Mushroom Grower Inducted into Business Hall of Fame
PHOENIXVILLE — More than 400 community members gathered April 4 to honor the Chester County Economic Development Council’s newest member of the Business Hall of Fame.
Michael Pia, director of South Mill Champs — one of the largest mushroom growers in the country — was inducted during a celebratory event at the Phoenixville Foundry.
more»Mushrooms may 'reduce the risk of mild brain decline'
A unique antioxidant present in mushrooms could have a protective effect on the brain, the study found.
The more mushrooms people ate, the better they performed in tests of thinking and processing.
But researchers said it was not possible to prove a direct link between the fungi and brain function.
The National University of Singapore study's findings were based on 663 Chinese adults, aged over 60, whose diet and lifestyle were tracked from 2011 to 2017.
Over the six-year study the researchers found that eating more than two portions of mushrooms a week lowered the chances of mild cognitive impairment by 50%, compared with those who ate fewer than one portion.
more»American Mushroom Institute hires executive director
The American Mushroom Institute has hired Rachel Roberts as executive director.
Roberts comes to the association with 20 years of experience in policy consulting, government and nonprofit management, according to a news release.
more»A Fleet of Networked Mushroom Farms is Spreading Across New York
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK—Between the pasta and deli counters in the middle of a Whole Foods is the last place you’d expect to find a contraption that simultaneously evokes a rave and a forest floor, let alone a brand-new way of farming. Yet Smallhold’s Minifarm is all of these things.
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