Citizens consume an average of 5 grams of exotic forest products per year
The mushroom industry in Russia is thriving. This year it is expected that mushroom harvest will be 12% higher than in 2022. Judging by recent statistical data, the industrial cultivation of champignons is becoming more and more actively developed. In general, over the past five years this industry has increased its capacity sevenfold. Let's take into account that about 800 thousand tons of forest mushrooms are supplied to the domestic market. But prices for goods “bite.”
Grandmothers sell wild mushrooms next to supermarkets, and it’s not like there’s a line for them. White ones go for 1800 rubles per kilogram, slightly larger ones — 1500, boletus — 1000, aspen boletuses — 800, honey mushrooms — 500-600 rubles per kilogram.
“No, I won’t buy porcini mushrooms for 1,800 rubles,” says a housewife passing by decisively. — I’d better go to the store — there are cultivated champignons for 210…
The woman adds that she rarely buys champignons — only as an additive to something. “Today I’m baking a meat pie—store-bought mushrooms will come in handy.” And, of course, they are not preserved in jars: “This is done by those who collect them themselves in the forests, professional mushroom pickers. And to buy 1000 or 1800 rubles to pickle it — what kind of money do you need to have?..”
Russia cannot be called a great mushroom-growing power. For example, in global exports, every third mushroom is from Poland, after which the main exporters are Canada and the Netherlands. But China puts pressure on everyone with production volumes: about 7-8 million tons per year. Although Russia is also beginning to develop this industry. Over the past 5 years, our champignon production has increased 7 times. It is expected that this year about 150 thousand tons of them will be grown in the country. In the first half of the year, more than 74 thousand tons have already been collected.
The industrial mushroom feast does not end there. There are also forest mushrooms and our favorite pastime is silent hunting. Mother Nature gifts Russians with much more than industrial facilities. Although it is difficult to accurately calculate how much forest mushrooms, boletuses or white mushrooms are supplied to our market, but according to rough estimates — about 800 thousand tons. Well, our fellow citizens still prefer wild plants — though not at 1,800 rubles per kilogram. Their consumption is 6 times more than cultivated ones.
This year is generally a good year for wild mushrooms. In Central Russia, summer was favorable for mushroom picking, and autumn is not disappointing yet.
It is possible that the tastes and preferences of Russians will change if they try exotic mushrooms that are grown in special conditions. In particular, these are shiitake, eringi, and enoki. It’s just not easy to find such specimens on the open market. Their average consumption is… 3-5 grams per year per capita. That's why it's exotic…
I ask an avid mushroom picker (this summer, according to him, he collected few porcini mushrooms — only 8 buckets), Honored Forester of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Sumin: what is the difference between natural mushrooms and cultivated ones? He replies that those grown in natural conditions, in an ecosystem, have nothing to even compare with those grown on a substrate, with chemical additives..
– For mushrooms, the seasonality factor is important: in some years there are a lot of them, in others there are few. The authorities decided that there was no point in engaging in the industry. What will we do if the forest does not provide mushrooms? This, in my opinion, is a mistake of the regional authorities. I remember back in the late 60s of the last century in the Vladimir region there was a huge mushroom farm, they bought mushrooms from the population from all over the area. She's gone now. And in the Vladimir and Vologda regions there is a sea of mushrooms. Tver region — black and white milk mushrooms, there is also nowhere to hand them over.
There is no master in the forest! Everyone used to know foresters. Now there is no forest protection, and no order either,” the forester concludes his story.