April is Earth Month, and the Mushroom Council® will be making the most of these 30 important days to remind diners that researchers consider mushrooms “one of the most sustainably produced foods in the United States[1].”
Studies1 find production of a pound of mushrooms requires only 1.8 gallons of water, 1.0 kilowatt hours of energy and generates only .7 pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions. In addition, the annual average yield of mushrooms is 7.1 pounds per square foot, meaning up to 1 million pounds of mushrooms can be produced on just one acre.
To amplify that message to a wider consumer audience hungry for more Earth-friendly eating habits, on April 1, the Mushroom Council is relaunching its website’s sustainability resources with fresh imagery, content and recipes spotlighting and celebrating mushroom production, as well as an analysis of mushroom’s production life cycle and how blending chopped mushrooms with meat can contribute to a more sustainable diet.
The Mushroom Council will drive people to the refreshed resources in April with a social media campaign showcasing how mushrooms are the “official ingredient for Earth Day,” outlining the mushroom sustainability story and sharing how shoppers can eat more sustainably by adding mushrooms to their meal planning.
On the PR front for Earth Month, the Council’s media relations campaign “Delicious, Easy, Sustainable Eating” will connect mushroom nutrition and taste to sustainability, inspiring home cooks to consider mushrooms in a plant-forward diet with health and production facts, as well as a classic meat/mushroom blended recipe.
In addition, April 16 is the Day of the Mushroom, and the Council will leverage the hashtag #DayofMushroom to educate consumers on mushroom varieties and versatility.
For more information, visit: https://www.mushroomcouncil.com/mushroom-sustainability/.
About the Mushroom Council:
The Mushroom Council is composed of fresh market producers and importers who average more than 500,000 pounds of mushrooms produced or imported annually. The mushroom program is authorized by the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act of 1990 and is administered by the Mushroom Council under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service. Research and promotion programs help to expand, maintain and develop markets for individual agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad. These industry self-help programs are requested and funded by the industry groups that they serve. For more information, visit mushroomcouncil.com.
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[1] The Mushroom Sustainability Story: Water, Energy and Climate Environmental Metrics 2017 study, produced by leading sustainability analysis and research firm SureHarvest, is the result of a two-year initiative to document mushroom production environment metrics. Additionally, SureHarvest and UC Davis researchers collaborated on a life cycle assessment study of mushroom production in the United States: Robinson, B., Winans, K., Kendall, A. et al. Int J Life Cycle Assess (2019) 24: 456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1456-6.
