Noble mushrooms online series 2026

Dieter Völkers and Matthias Illg from the Magdeburg Mushroom Farm share insights from the field of gourmet mushroom production. They discuss the operational requirements, opportunities, and risks—from the substrate to the harvested mushroom fruiting bodies. Various mushroom species—shiitake, oyster mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, rose oyster mushrooms, lemon oyster mushrooms, and lion’s mane mushrooms—are presented along with their different requirements for cultivation and marketing.

The slides from this presentation are not publicly available. The event will be repeated in a similar format on October 20, 2026.

For an introduction, see: https://www.uni-kassel.de/forschung/agroforst/projekt-nupiwi/edelpilz-veranstaltung-19-juni-2025.html

Björn Wenzel, a mushroom farming consultant with the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, will provide a comprehensive overview of the production and investment costs involved in edible mushroom cultivation. This will offer greater clarity for business decisions and open up opportunities for a well-planned entry into the industry.

• PDF of the presentation

In this seminar, Leonie Sulk, a marketing expert with the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, will provide important tools for successfully marketing gourmet mushrooms. The session “Keeping Marketing Costs Under Control—How to Calculate Your PricesCorrectly ”provides you with a solid foundation for planning your marketing efforts. The second session , “From Niche Product to Best-Seller: Smart Marketing of Premium Mushrooms,” explores potential sales channels and product ideas all the way through to effective marketing communication.

• PDF of the presentation

This online event focuses on gourmet mushroom cultivation with an emphasis on “starting small” and “figuring out DIY solutions.” Henrik Hellmann, who holds a BSc in Organic Agriculture, has pursued his interest in edible mushrooms, starting with cultivation experiments in the bathroom of his student apartment, then moving on to a 3-month internship at Tiroler Glückspilze, and finally writing his thesis on innovative ideas for small and medium-sized edible mushroom farms. He will present the results of his work.

Four of the farms interviewed were guests at the event to share their experiences:

• Annett Klötzing – Direct marketing in the city & Nils Steinbiß – Mushroom cultivation in converted shipping containers https://pilzmanufaktur-steinbiss.de/
• Ana Orias Balderas – “Room-within-a-room” concept with greenhouse tents https://anas-pilzfarm.de/
• Freimuth Stephan – Mushroom cultivation in the smallest of spaces in the basement (Gourmet Pilze Stephan)
• Evgeni Bratovanov – Repurposing a building materials warehouse – locally sourced and upcycled, but always sterile https://www.paradiespilze.de

• PDF of the presentations
• PDF of H. Hellmann’s BSc thesis

With Pilzhof Rein, we’re taking a journey—from the conversion of a pig barn to the development of a successful marketing strategy for oyster mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, and shiitake. How was the pig barn gutted and equipped for gourmet mushroom cultivation? Diana Rein shows us this in a video from the construction phase. What technical challenges arose along the way, and how were they resolved? How did they succeed in establishing their marketing strategy? And what does the transition from pig farming to gourmet mushroom cultivation actually mean for day-to-day operations? This online seminar provides insight into the development of Pilzhof Rein and offers plenty of time for questions.

• PDF Diana Rein

There are a variety of approaches to substrate production for gourmet mushroom cultivation: Some operations purchase inoculated substrate and advise against producing it in-house. Others have established their own substrate production through a lengthy learning process.

This online seminar provides practical information to help you make an informed decision: What types of substrates are available? Which components are important, and where do recipes come from? What sanitization methods exist—and what are their risks and benefits? When purchasing: How do you recognize good quality? When producing in-house: How do you get started safely? What technology do you need—high-tech or low-tech—depending on the scale? What is the workload involved?

Kay Hammermeister, who delved deeply into substrate production in his master’s thesis and is currently in the process of founding a gourmet mushroom farm (www.mycoloop.de), will share the latest state of the art. In addition, Ullrich Felix Vogel (https://www.confungi.com/) brings years of practical experience in edible mushroom cultivation and substrate production to the discussion.

• PDF Kay Hammermeister