US-based expert to conduct workshops on growing mushrooms

Mushroom expert Tradd Cotter of Mushroom Mountain, South Carolina, will be conducting mushroom-growing workshops in rural St Andrew and St Thomas. These workshops will be held on March 15 and 18 in Stony Hill, St Andrew; on March 19 at Source Farm; and on March 20 and 21 in Rockbrook, St Thomas.

Cotter will teach on how to cultivate mushrooms for consumption, how to use them for medicine, pest management, termite eradication, mosquito control, the breaking-down of plastic waste, and the cleaning-up of industrial pollution.

"Mushroom Mountain is a company that focuses on the needs of the planet, developing food and systems for filtering water, creating prototypes for novel antibiotic discovery, isolating target-specific myco-pesticides to replace chemical pesticides for problematic insects, and many other projects that use fungi to harmonise our coexistence with nature," the company's website says.

"Cotter has worked with mushrooms for over 20 years as a farmer and a researcher. His workshops offer participants an exploration of best organic mushroom-cultivation practices in which he shares the results of his groundbreaking research and offer myriad ways in which they can apply cultivation skills and further incorporate mushrooms into our lives," the Source Farm said.

'The Magic of Mushrooms' is hosted by The Source Farm Foundation in Johns Town, St Thomas, coordinators of the Jamaica Sustainable Farm Enterprise Programme and is funded by USAID.

There is no cost to attend the workshops. Lunch and snacks will be provided for $1,000. For registration, participants may call 1-876-5832057.