From Pine View Farm

Bushonomics 2

Mushrooming problems:

Chester County’s powerful mushroom industry, long immune to the ravages of Mother Nature, is succumbing instead to another potent force these days: the high cost of energy.

The cost of compost, heating oil and other essentials needed to grow mushrooms has risen so quickly since Hurricane Katrina caused a spike in crude-oil prices two years ago that some growers in the area – where more than half the nation’s mushrooms are produced – say they are operating in the red.

So, many Chester County mushroom growers this winter have begun to impose steep price increases, a move they say is essential but makes them more vulnerable to competition that now includes cheap mushrooms grown in China.

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2 comments

  1. Karen

    February 24, 2008 at 5:53 am

    I bought cod at the store the other day, & all the different signs show the country of origin on them now. As I waited for my order to be put together, I looked at the different signs. Nary a fish from China was there. Maybe I’m not the only one who won’t buy fish from China.

     
  2. Opie

    February 24, 2008 at 11:36 am

    A shortage of organic fertilizer should not be a hard problem to solve in an election year.