RC-APD team visits SA Mushrooms

Part of RC-APD’s Professional Development Program

Across the Research Consortium for Agricultural Product Development program, we aim to engage with leading experts and industry leaders by building knowledge and expertise, gain insights, and advance opportunities for commercialisation.

In May, the RC-APD team visited SA Mushrooms, an Industry Partner which has grown to become the largest privately owned mushroom farm in South Australia. From small beginnings as a family-run farm, the business is today a primary supplier of mushrooms to major supermarkets, independent greengrocers and produce markets in South Australia, and nation wide. The business has since expanded to 50 growing rooms at Waterloo Corner, North of Adelaide, with annual production of 3,000 tonnes per year – making it one of the State’s largest mushroom growers.

Hosted by Managing Director Nick Femia, the team not only saw the growing facility but also the company’s own manufacturing of specialised mushroom compost.

SA Mushrooms‘ involvement with the RC-APD includes several projects to explore commercialisation opportunities for compounds present in mushroom farm waste, including (but not limited to) Vitamin D, spermidine, chitosan, and Beta-Glucan.

At the end of the site tour, there was an opportunity to engage with Nick and his brother Nat about RC-APD projects and their future commercialisation potential as well as benefits to SA Mushrooms.