FUNGTOPIA

The imminent collapse of industrialized agriculture is leading humanity to look for more sustainable ways of food production. Edible mushrooms have proven to be a promising alternative thanks to their low carbon emission related to their production and their high nutritional value. In Mexico there is a great diversity of fungi, which we have seen can be used as forest inoculants, since they have the solution of important problems such as massive deforestation and soil erosion, as well as the conservation of fungal diversity. This motivated us to develope an affordable technique that allows the harvest of wild mushrooms alongside the development of timber trees, making the most of their forest land. It can benefit farmers and foresters, increasing their income with the combined production of mushrooms, timber, and crops. This is the revolution of mushroom agriculture towards an agroforestry model with zero carbon emissions and environmental degradation.

Mexico is the second most diverse country regarding fungi species. Part of this fungi diversity is represented by edible mushrooms, which have a strong nutritional and cultural relevance, specially in rural and indigenous communities. Despite this high variety, mushrooms do not represent one of the main source of nutrition in the Mexican diet and their potential as a nutritional food source or as an economic source of money is untapped. We have also seen a lack of knowledge on the part of people who work or own forest land, regarding the application of edible fungi as inoculants.

Around the world, very few companies are working in the production of wild edible mushrooms related to forest species. Likewise, Mexico has 33.5 million hectares of forest, of which 354,000 hectares are lost per year. We have a responsibility as a company to preserve as much forest as possible, giving extra value to forest communities with the generation of economic resources.

It also represents an alternative for sustainable management of forests as mushrooms are a non-wood forest resource with low CO2 emissions linked to their production, and is economically viable for rural communities and farmers.

A biotechnogical technique for the large scale production of novel edible mushroom species only found in the wild. This technique can be integrated to agriculture and forestry activities, resulting in the combined production of mushrooms, crops and timber.

The technique works with the inoculation of spores of the desired mushroom around the roots of the tree in the seedling stage at the laboratory. The tree will continue its growth in a tree nursery while the mushroom colonize the tree roots, making a symbiotic relationship. After two years, the tree can be used to reforest forest lands or planted within agricultural lands. With the right conditions of irrigations, the edible part of the mushroom can fructify, resulting in a regular mushroom production, with high profits for farmers and foresters. This is an scalable technique, as the number of inoculated trees depend of the number of tree nurseries. In a conservation ecology point of view, it is beneficial for the ecosystem as local tree species can be used for the inoculation, sustaining the habitat for other life forms.

Our target population is based in Mexico. They are rural communities, small or middle scale farmers, and people who live out of the exploitation of forest resources. They usually live in remote or isolated places, with scarce sources of income, where vulnerability to poverty and malnutrition are common.
The proposed solution has the potential to significantly increase their income while they can continue with their main productive activity. Mushrooms are a rich source of nutrients and proteins, therefore an ally against malnutrition. 
We are engaging with our target population thought events of agriculture and forestry. We have also worked in a reforestation company, therefore we know from firsthand that these communities need incentives for the conservation of their resources and technology to make their business more profitable and sustainable in the long term. 

With our proposed solution, we want to create a new business model for farmers and foresters, with bigger profits than their main productive activities. Production of wild edible mushrooms combined with agriculture in an agroforestry system has proven being efficient in the recycling of nutrients and water, preservation of soil properties, and decreased emissions of CO2. It can be especially effective and inexpensive for communities who do not have access to advanced technology or live in the poverty threshold. And the best thing, mushrooms are great substitutes for meat, with higher protein content than almost any vegetable and legume.

The biotechnology we are developing is the result of previus scientific research with less than 20 years of trajectory. The inoculation method of trees using spores has been tested by us and other researchers under controled greenhouse conditions, with the successful production of mushrooms and confirmed enhancement of tree growth compared with the inoculated trees. Several thesis projects and scientific articles came out of this investigations, but their business potential has not been exploited until now. 

Similar methods and technology have been used in the production of other mushrooms, specially for the truffle agriculture in Europe and North America. Examples of this are companies like Micofora and Hifas Foresta, both based in Spain.Despite these companies sell inoculated trees for mushroom production, their inoculation methods are more expensive, lack of social impact with farmers or foresters and only reproduce European species. We believe in the potential of North American  mushroom species, their nutritional and gourmet value.

Our solution involves an exhaustive study of forest lands using GIS software, in order to analyze the species of fungi and trees native to each area. For the inoculation of the fungi in the forest species, the spores of said fungi will be extracted and will be implemented in the soil of each tree. Through controlled greenhouse conditions, they will be monitored for a period of 1 year.

It is a technique that does not involve many resources, it can be very simple and feasible to be applied in low-income communities.

Wang and Hall (2004) mentioned the importance of implementing technologies that cause less environmental deterioration, by replacing chemical fertilizers with microorganisms that are beneficial for tree nutrition. They also argued that the increased demand for edible ectomycorrhizal fungi has encouraged research related to the development of technologies for their cultivation, as well as methods for sustainable productivity in natural forests. According to Pera and Parladé (2005), the biotechnological application of edible ectomycorrhizal fungi inoculated in forest species aims to improve the quality of the plant destined for afforestation, reducing the period of stay in nurseries, as well as the production and subsequent use of a non-wood forest product such as edible fungi.

Pera, J. y Parladé, J. (2005). Inoculación controlada con hongos ectomicorrícicos en la producción de planta destinada a repoblaciones forestales: Estado actual en España. Investigación Agraria. Sistemas y Recursos Forestales. 14(3): 419-433.

Wang, Y. y Hall, I.R. (2004). Edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms: challenges and achievements. Canadian Journal of Botany. 82: 1063-1073.

We select for profit, because our plan is to make this project sustainable and in long-term  being able to help other organizations.

At the moment we are four members who work full time to develop our solution in the best possible way.

We are well positioned because we are eager to apply our knowledge in favor of the great need we are seeing in our world. We are four biologists, who present a common problem, the lack of a job in which we apply our knowledge, so we met to make an alliance between the four, since we have different strengths. Francisco has experience working in the agroforestry sector , which gave her the necessary knowledge to identify the deficiencies of the existing technologies. Paola is a fan of the Fungy world, she has collaborated in biomaterial projects, as well as developing research on the benefits of implementing mushroom inoculation in the roots of trees to improve their growth and at the same time obtain mushrooms for consumption. José has experience working from forestry projects to edible mushroom productions, so his experience in these sectors is of outmost importance to the project. Finally Paulina has experience in various projects in the environment sector, has participated in the Scouts Association of Mexico and has collaborated in educational and ecological campaigns.

We are collaborating with the University of Guadalajara, this institution provides us with the necessary information for our project and we provide them with the product obtained from the research. We also collaborate with Radial, a biomaterial company, which gives us access to its facilities to make the first tests.

Our business model consists in offering a product which in our case will be the mycorrhizal tree that will offer buyers benefits such as a growing tree that can be used for timber production and the wild edible mushrooms. Extra benefits of our product are the improvement of soil fertility and water retention. Our potential clients are small to medium scale farmers who want to start an agroforestry model of crop production and foresters who want to exploit non-timber products. Our goal is to be present in reforestation campaigns and to be able to offer to the customer what they need to take advantage of their land and at the same time have a great ecological value.

Our contact would be through the website, social networks and have distributors associated with the agroforestry market, since we know that many of our clients potentially do not have the ease of access to internet.

We apply to Solve because we have the dream of growing this company in an exponential way and in the first instance, being able to supply the needs that we have in our region and then being able to scale it to the Mexican Republic. It is an ambitious project, but we believe that it is the kind of proposals that our region and country needs to improve agriculture towards a more sustainable and healthy model. Our main barrier is the lack of adequate space to be able to produce mycorrhizalized trees, since we need to generate the exact conditions that they need.

If we are selected, our plan is to make a mycorrhizal tree production station, this station must have a laboratory and greenhouses, as well as space to have the trees.

Our principal objective is to promote the use of tree inoculation biotechnology to generate edible mushrooms, as well as to improve the soil and the economy of producers. And our other secundary objectives are make oportunities for womens in difucult situations, reforest mexico, reestablish biodiversity and fair Trade.

We like to partner with these organizations:

-Business Call to Action: Implement innovative business models that combine benefit and impact on development.

-EP100: An initiative The Climate Group, in association with which brings together a growing group of smart energy companies committed to improving their energy productivity.

-Forest Social Council: Boosting trade and beneficiaries to ejidatarios who take advantage of the tropical forest resources of Mexico.

-Reforestamos México: Creating collaborative alliances between ejidos and communities, local and federal government, private initiative, academia and civil society to promote territorial governance through the implementation of actions to restore and conserve forest ecosystems.

We believe that this project is a very good opportunity for women in difficult situations, we want to teach them how to make this production so that they can help themselves or their family with the profits.