(Suwon=Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Hae-min = It has been found that using coffee grounds for mushroom cultivation reduces production costs and increases yield.
The Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Technology Institute announced on the 25th that a test of cultivating shiitake mushrooms using a "medium" mixed with coffee grounds resulted in an increase of about 8% in production compared to the conventional medium.
The medium is an artificial culture substrate used for growing mushrooms, playing a role similar to soil for plants.
Mushroom medium is primarily a mixture of sawdust (50%), beet pulp (30%), and cottonseed hulls (20%), with over 100 million tons used annually in the country, more than half of which is imported.
The institute has been researching the mixing ratio of shiitake growth medium using coffee grounds as an alternative material since 2023 to reduce the burden on farmers due to rising prices and supply instability of imported raw materials.
The results showed that the yield of shiitake mushrooms increased by 8% compared to the conventional medium when using a mixture of "sawdust 50%, beet pulp 20%, cottonseed hulls 10%, and coffee grounds 20%."
However, in practical cultivation tests conducted by other farmers, the yield was similar to before.
However, coffee grounds cost about 200 to 240 won per kilogram, which is less than half the price of cottonseed hulls and beet pulp (500 to 700 won), so even with the same yield, it is beneficial for farmers.
Ha Tae-moon, Director of the Eco-friendly Microorganism Research Institute at the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Technology Institute, said, "This research has proven the potential for utilizing coffee grounds, a coffee byproduct," and "We will expand the practical dissemination to farmers by conducting a detailed economic evaluation and devising ways to provide real help."