Mycology

The Buzz Behind The Fruiting Mycology Industry

Everything from substrate to spawn and genetics to fully branded end consumer goods

Walking around the counterculture scene as of late, you may have noticed an explosion of interest in mycology and products surrounding the production of mushrooms. Before we take a look at where the industry is, we should start out with where the industry originally began.

Myco Alchemy at CHAMPS Summer Show 2022

Since pre-historic times, humans have both grown and gathered mushrooms for a variety of reasons, chief among them being food and medicine. However, in the book Food of the Gods, American ethnobotanist Terence McKenna argues that mycology played a far greater role in who we are as a species. According to McKenna, the first evolutionary step we took in moving from Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens, was consuming a form of psilocybe cubensis, a psychedelic fungus, while tracking herds of roaming cattle.

“Even as the nineteenth century had to come to grips with the notion of human descent from apes, we must now come to terms with the fact that those apes were stoned apes.” – Food of the Gods (Terence McKenna, 1993)

Since those early days of foraging, mycology as an industry has primarily focused on the production and procurement of gourmet and wellness mushrooms. In October of 2021, Smallhold, an organic specialty gourmet mushroom provider, closed a first investment round of $25 million USD. This success highlighted a simple fact, investors and capital were flowing into the market in anticipation of continued consumer growth. The ‘Shroom Boom’ as it’s since been coined, has now begun penetration into the general wellness market and captured psychedelics as cities decriminalize and states legalize. In particular, the psychedelic portion of the mycology industry, which is poised to become the next ‘green rush market’ after cannabis, has raised well over $220 million of investment capital in 2020 alone and already has companies listed on the Canadian NEO and US Nasdaq exchanges.

Coast to Coast Mycology at CHAMPS Summer Show 2022

End consumer market products aren’t the only part of the industry that’s seeing incredible growth. Since there is no legal market currently for psychoactive therapeutic products, the majority of the market on the retail side has been for the picks and shovels helping to support these emerging brands. Companies doing research and development using wellness mushrooms such as Reishi, Yellow Morel, and Lions Mane in place of their psychedelic cousins, seems to be a current trend.

At home mycology enthusiasts are also worth noting as e-commerce and brick and mortar retailers continue to scale their offerings, they have also been requested to carry items such as spawn bags, monotubs, micropore, and substrate to complement their cannabis accessories line. With the global mushroom market expected to hit an astounding $86 billion USD value by the year 2025, there has been no better time to get dip your toes into the “mushroom madness” by stocking some of these basic high-margin items for your store.

CHAMPS Trade Shows, as the leader for business-to-business networking in counterculture since 1999, recognized that mycology was going to be the next breakout star on the counterculture scene by helping set the stage for the emerging industry to fruit new opportunities for both retailers and brands alike. By creating the CHAMPS Mycology department, CHAMPS has pioneered networking between myco brands and retailers on a mass-scale, thus accelerating the industry for the next chapter in counterculture.

SHRUM at CHAMPS Summer Show 2022

At CHAMPS Summer Show in July of 2022, we welcomed brands such as Shrum, Myco Alchemy, Coast 2 Coast Mycology, Spores N’ More, & AstroLabs Institute as part of the first ever business to business show dedicated to helping build the industry of mycology. Everything from substrate to spawn and genetics to fully branded end consumer product goods (wellness mushrooms of course) were on full display for retailers to pick from.

Nick G., Co-Founder & CEO of AstroLabs Institute, stated he had never experienced anything quite like it. “The show floor was incredible. What surprised me however was that CHAMPS retail buyers were incredibly interested not only in the product itself, but where the industry was headed in the next couple of years. The conversations I had were not only profitable from a business perspective but were encouraging from an intellectual perspective.” He continued with his thoughts about the future of the industry.” Mycology has finally arrived on the scene and CHAMPS was the first to champion that from a business-to-business perspective. This industry is here to stay.”

SPORES N’ MORE

In order to help continue to facilitate the growth of the industry across the United States, CHAMPS Trade Shows will be including mycology brands not only supplying both the picks and shovels of the industry, but also the end consumer products at every show moving forward. To get more information about CHAMPS Mycology or to display your mycology brand at a future CHAMPS Trade Show, please contact Hap Kent, CHAMPS Mycology Concierge, via email [email protected], or by phone at 818-616-7411. The next CHAMPS Show that will feature CHAMPS Mycology will be at CHAMPS Denver, September 27th and 28th, at the Colorado Convention Center. For more details and to get pre-registered as a retail buyer, please visit www.CHAMPSTradeShows.com

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