The United Nation marks World Environment Day on June 5, to encourage “worldwide awareness and action for the protection of the environment.”
In light of the 2025 theme of Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience, how can each of us help promote food security and save the planet? Well, eating more cultivated fresh mushrooms is one possible route.
The scope of the problem
“There has never been a more pressing need for creative and sustainable alternatives to agricultural operations than in this age of climate change, land scarcity and food security concerns,” say the authors a study by the Departments of Economics and Trade and Finance at Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, published earlier this year in the research journal, Frontiers.
“Rapid urbanization, coupled with the escalating challenges posed by traditional farming methods, necessitates a paradigm shift in how we cultivate and access food,” they go on to declare. And multiple studies, scientists and statesmen agree.
But why look at the humble mushroom to help save the day?
• You are what you eat
Mushrooms offer bountiful nutrition, while being low in calories, sodium and cholesterol. They also boost health in many surprising ways.
According to 2022 research published in the US National Library of Medicine, the “beneficial effects of Agaricus bisporus, the world’s most consumed mushroom, have been seen in metabolic syndrome, immune function, gastrointestinal health, and cancer; with the strongest evidence for the improvement in vitamin D status in humans.”
Agaricus bisporus is the scientific name for the strain of cultivated mushrooms we commonly find in supermarkets, including white button mushrooms, portabellinis and the larger portabellos.
• Eco-warrior on a mission
“Benefits [of mushroom cultivation] include efficient use of space, reduced water consumption, minimal reliance on arable land, and the potential for year-round cultivation. Additionally, mushrooms possess a remarkable ability to recycle organic waste and convert it into nutritious food, thus contributing to waste reduction and resource efficiency,” notes the Czech researchers.
• Mushroom cultivation requires minimal arable land space
In a world where land for cultivation is at a premium, the study also praised mushrooms as a crop ideal for urban spaces as “mushrooms are low maintenance, they do not require daylight or artificial light manipulations, and they can be grown all year round.”
In South Africa, mushroom farming is a key component of the wider agriculture industry as much of the waste product generated in other sectors of the industry are composted into the substrate in which mushrooms are grown.
According to the South African Mushroom Farmers’ Association (SAMFA), “a big part of the mushroom composting process is the creation of a mushroom substrate that uses straw as a waste product from wheat farming as its base. The major benefit to the environment is that the thousands of kilos of straw used in the creation of the substrate was previouy burnt, causing smoke and air pollution.”
Additionally, nutrition scientist Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, writing for the US Mushroom Council, points out that “mushrooms need minimal resources to grow,” and that includes water and electricity.
As a food crop, mushrooms are also one of the “few plants you can effortlessly eat whole. When preparing, you use the whole mushroom – no need to toss any seeds, stems, peels,” she says.
As with the maxim reduce, reuse, recycle, which relies on individuals to select resources carefully, use them slowly and to their fullest and then dispose of them ethically for the good of all, benefitting from the mushroom crop requires consuming them often and in a way that reduces consumption of other, more environmentally stressful crops.
For instance, stretching meat dishes to feed more people by adding whole mushrooms, not only to improve flavour and fibre in the meal, but to make sure more mouths are fed.
And we’re not just talking low-cost meals here! Even at your fanciest dinner party no-one is going to turn down the mushrooms in Button Mushroom Oxtail https://rebrand.ly/359c36 or pass on a luxe starter of Twice Baked Mushroom Soufflé https://rebrand.ly/8e617d.
Look through our library of recipes at https://rebrand.ly/b3k3tok for mushroom meals that will both satisfy and contribute to saving the planet.
