Cultivating Mushrooms by Trees Could Feed Millions While Mitigating Climate Change, Research Finds

Edible mushrooms are a healthy and valuable source of protein, fiber, antioxidants and selenium, a mineral that protects against infections and cell damage.

A new study by scientists from the University of Stirling in Scotland has found that growing edible mushrooms adjacent to trees can not only provide food for millions, it can mitigate climate change impacts by capturing carbon, a press release from the University of Stirling said.

“We looked at the emerging field of mycoforestry, where fungi that grow in symbiosis with living trees are used to create a food crop from new tree plantings, and we found that production of fungi using this system can lead to a very significant sequestration of greenhouse gas,” Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences Paul Thomas, who was lead author of the study, said in the press release. “This is a huge benefit which means that by producing this food we can actively help mitigate climate change. When we compared this to other major food groups, this is the only one that would result in such benefits — all other major food categories lead to a greenhouse gas emission during production.”