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Australian Log-grown Shiitake Mushroom Manual
by Parsuram Sharm-Luital & Rowan Reid
With the support of the Victorian Government we have published the first Australian Shiitake Growers Manual. The 60-page, full-colour manual covers the biology, practical and marketing of log-grown shiitake and includes the results of our research and Australian experience gained over 4 years with almost 1000 logs in production.
Shiitake mushrooms are the second-most consumed edible fungi in the world. Whilst most commercial producers use artificial substrates and expensive controlled-environment facilities there is a growing interest in the traditional log-based methods that have been used for centuries in East Asia. In fact, the word Shiitake literally means Oak-Mushroom.
Based on research undertaken at The University of Melbourne and local commercial-scale trials including one at the CERES Community Environment Park in Melbourne, this well illustrated and practical manual provides the first detailed analysis of the methods, yields and prospects for log-grown Shiitake mushroom production in Australia. Whilst clearly enthusiastic about the prospects the authors’ academic, practical and commercial experience ensures that they do not overstate the prospects or ignore the risks. The colour photos and research-quality data provide the reader with added confidence that this is a manual that is firmly based on fact.
Before settling in Australia, Parsuram Sharma-Luital worked as a District Agriculture Extension officer in Bhutan and was involved in teaching farmers how to grow Shiitake mushrooms on logs. At CERES he developed the first commercial-scale log-grown Shiitake enterprise in Australia and sold mushrooms directly into the wholesale markets and to restaurants. Rowan Reid is a Senior Fellow in Forest Science at The University of Melbourne and the National Coordinator of the Australian Master TreeGrower Program. He is also a tree grower on his own farm where he grows a wide range of species for shelter, conservation and profit. Together, Parsu and Rowan have been leading research into the prospects for growing Shiitake on Australian tree species and have been able to demonstrate that some of our farm grown eucalypts may well be as productive as oak.
This book has been published for Australian farmers by the Otway Agroforestry Network, a community group of more than 300 tree growers in southern Victoria, with the support of the Victorian Government through the Victorian Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development’s Next Generation Food Strategy, ‘Networks to Success’ Program.
Cost: $30 Includes GST and Postage
For your copy, send a cheque made out to: "Otway Agroforestry Network" and mail to PO Box 62 Birregurra 3242
Watch our video clip
Agroforestry and a changing climate
The House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resources Committee visits [Video]
“Twenty years of sustainable agroforestry operations in Colac district would lead the way in an emissions trading Australia.”
These were the words of Tasmanian Federal Labour Member for Lyons, Dick Adams, as reported in The Colac Herald on Sept. 4th after a tour of the Otway Agroforestry Network (OAN) by the House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resource Committee.
Mr. Adams, Committee Chairman, went on to say, “It is great to utilise the advice of farmers who have been developing agroforestry practices for 20 years. Farmers within this region are leaders in innovation and whole farm and landscape management.”
The committee is investigating the role of government in assisting Australian farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resources Committee is investigating the role of government in assisting Australian farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The Committee is considering how farmers are or could be adapting to climate change, and the potential impacts on downstream processing. It is looking into the role of government in assisting farmers shift towards farming practices that promote resilience in the farm sector, and government’s role in promoting research, extension and training that assists farmers better adapt to climate change. The role of rural research and development is also being examined.
Four members of the House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resource Committee met with the Otway Agroforestry Network team along with Richard Morrow, Darren Cheeseman, Federal Member for Corangamite, Steve Cameron, Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and Simon Ramsay who is the immediate past-president of the Victorian Farmers Federation.
The Colac Herald reported Mr Adams saying, “Insights gained from the trip would shape government policy. The work that is being done here can provide policy reform and innovation.” He said, “A bi-partisan committee with members from across Australia will make recommendations to the government on what role farming will play in an emissions trading scheme. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water but a lot more clever thinking is where we need to be heading.”
Initially, the OAN was invited to make a written submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Primary Industries and Resources inquiry into Australian farmers and climate change. OAN responded by inviting the Committee to “Lunch in the Landscape.” This gave us the opportunity to show case five properties and to demonstrate grass and tree roots approaches to developing resilient and robust landscapes in the face of climate change. The committee accepted and arrived in the Otways on 2nd September. This gave the OAN management team five and a half hours to demonstrate and discuss the important issues with the Committee.
The key points demonstrated to the Committee were that the strategic integration of trees and shrubs into farming systems and agricultural landscapes can help farmers and the rural communities that depend on them face the challenges of a changing climate. The key is risk management. Trees are a land management tool that farmers can use to reduce risk, increase resilience and create complementary income opportunities. With knowledge, confidence, support and access to appropriate resources and markets farmers can establish and manage trees on their land to:
(1) Ameliorate the effects of extreme and unpredictable climatic events on agricultural production:
(2) Diversify their farming business by producing products and services that are independent of traditional agricultural markets and less susceptible to climatic variability
(3) Sequester carbon dioxide in living biomass and woody products thus offsetting agricultural emissions and providing marketing and partnership opportunities.
The Parliamentary Committee was accompanied by the Parliamentary media unit who will write an article about the visit in the Federal Parliamentary magazine “About the House”. We were also informed that a video clip will be aired on Sky News.
For more information, visit www.aph.gov.au/pir
 Pictured here in a riparian area with multi-purpose agroforestry plantings are : Members of the House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resource committee, from left, Alby Shultz (Federal Liberal Member for Hume), Dick Adams (Federal Labour Member for Lyons), Graham Perrett (Federal Labour Member for Moreton), and John Forrest (Federal Nationals Member for Mallee). The table, made by Neil McInness from Rowan Reid’s 16-year-old Shining Gum, is adorned with banksia flowers (a commercial forest product) and John Forrest is holding a Mountain Pepper plant, which is part of the commercial agroforestry understorey.
Tony Burke visits the Otway Agroforestry Network
 Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said, “Colac district’s Agroforestry network is a model for farm communities across Australia”. This comment was reported in the Colac Herald early April 2009 after Mr. Burke visited the Colac district to discuss sustainable environmental plans with Landcare networks the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and the Otway Agroforestry Network (OAN). The OAN hosted Mr. Burke for a tour, which included lunch in the shade of a multi purpose agroforestry planting along a riparian zone.
In the Colac Herald article Mr. Burke said the future of agroforestry across Australia is bright and said he would use Colac district examples as models for other farming regions in the country.
Mr. Burke has invited the OAN to further present the case for agroforestry’s role in supporting landcare and sustainable farming practices. This presentation will occur later in May.
Tony Bourke youtube clip
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