Edible mushrooms are a traditional industry in China and an important way to achieve ecological agriculture. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, China's edible mushroom industry has initially achieved regional layout, diversified varieties, standardized parks, specialized production, value-added processing, and industrialized operation. The comprehensive production capacity has been improved, and the output value has steadily increased. With the support of the National Science and Technology Support Program and the National Edible Fungi Industry Technology System, the edible fungi industry has won 2 second prizes for national scientific and technological progress, 5 first prizes at the provincial and ministerial levels, and formulated and revised 16 national standards and 36 industry standards. Currently, 120 new and old varieties of edible fungi have been recognized nationwide. By 2013, the total output of edible mushrooms in China had reached 31.7 million tons, with an output value of 2018 billion yuan, an increase of 44% and 50% respectively from the end of the 11th Five Year Plan. The average output growth rate was 13%, the average output value growth rate was 14%, and the average consumption growth rate was 7%. Edible mushrooms had become the fifth planting industry after grain, oil, fruits and vegetables, completing the main tasks of the 12th Five Year Plan and laying a good foundation for the development of the 13th Five Year Plan industry.

On October 30th, during the China Edible Fungi Industry "Twelfth Five Year Plan" Top 100 Outstanding Achievements Exhibition and Trade Fair, the China Edible Fungi Association commended local governments, production and research units, and industry brands that have made outstanding achievements in edible fungi technology progress and cultural construction, driving local economic development, industry brand building, and transformation and upgrading during the "Twelfth Five Year Plan" period. The specific commendations include the National Excellent Main Production Base County (District, City), National Excellent Professional Cooperative, Excellent Scientific and Technological Achievements, Top 10 Brands and Excellent Brands of Chinese Industrialized Edible Fungi, Excellent Products of Chinese Edible Fungi Equipment and Fungi Supplies, Top 10 Brands of Chinese Lingzhi, Innovation Award for Modern Circulation of Edible Fungi, Innovation Award for Wild Fungi Market Development, Excellent Brand, Work Innovation Award, and Encouragement Award for Cultural Work in the Edible Fungi Industry.

Review/Industry achieves comprehensive development

During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the scope of my country's edible fungi production areas continued to expand, and the industrial layout showed the development trend of "eastern mushrooms expanding to the west" and "southern mushrooms expanding to the north". The main production areas range from the southeast, east China, northeast and central regions. Beginning to expand to the southwest and northwest regions, a number of emerging edible fungi production areas have emerged in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces and regions. Currently, 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in mainland my country have edible fungi production bases. At the same time, the cultivated varieties of edible fungi continue to increase. Currently, there are 936 types of edible fungi in my country, of which nearly 60 can be cultivated artificially, and 36 can be cultivated on a commercial scale. The main types of edible fungi such as shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms have become more prominent, and rare edible fungi such as morels and phyllophilus have been successfully domesticated and cultivated, making my country's edible fungi industry continue to lead the world in terms of cultivated types.

At the same time as the development of edible fungi itself, the development of its entire industry chain is also advancing. First of all, the construction of advantageous bases and parks has developed rapidly. Advantageous production bases for conventional fungi and rare fungi are constantly appearing all over the country. These bases have become a showcase for the scientific and technological progress of modern edible fungi, the promotion of healthy food culture of edible fungi, and the dissemination of popular science about edible fungi culture. It is an important platform to provide knowledge, promote the upgrading of the edible fungi industry, and stimulate the consumption of edible fungi products. Secondly, factory production has gradually become more professional. As of 2015, there were 626 edible fungus factory manufacturers nationwide, with an annual output of 1.83 million tons. The results have been significant in improving quality and efficiency, and product quality has been significantly improved. The varieties of edible fungi produced in factories have also expanded to more than a dozen varieties including enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, bisporus mushrooms, crab-flavored mushrooms, and seafood mushrooms. The factory production of edible fungi in my country has highlighted the momentum of efficient and professional development and has become the main force for the sound and rapid development of the edible fungi industry. Thirdly, edible fungi preservation and processing showed rapid growth. Driven by leading enterprises, the variety, output and output value of edible fungi preservation and processing products showed rapid growth momentum. As the concept that edible and medicinal mushrooms are beneficial to human nutrition and health has been widely recognized, and in the context of the transformation and upgrading of the national industrial model, the entire field of edible and medicinal mushroom processing is entering a new stage of growth.

Although the construction of edible fungus parks has made great progress during the "12th Five Year Plan" period, there is generally a lack of "integration of three industries" such as edible fungus production, processing, trade, catering, cultural expo, popular science education and tourism. The park is not rich in connotation, the construction projects are relatively thin, the display of modern scientific and technological achievements of edible fungi is insufficient, the attraction to consumers is not enough, and the integration with horticultural expo, rural tourism, scenic spots, IT industry, Internet plus and other industries is lacking. In addition, the low technological content of preservation processing technology for edible mushroom products, serious product homogenization, limited value-added products such as deep processing and precision processing, and short industrial chain are also urgent problems that need to be solved in the edible mushroom industry.

In addition, the lagging development of the market, slow brand building, traditional sales models, unreasonable and disorderly circulation are also important factors restricting the development of the edible mushroom industry. The information in the edible mushroom market is insufficient, and operators cannot effectively grasp the economic development situation and consumer demand orientation. They cannot produce according to market demand, and the production and sales of products are disconnected from each other, which hinders the development of the industry and market capture. At the same time, there is a lack of brands that consumers can blurt out or become familiar with, making it difficult to strengthen, expand, and refine the edible mushroom industry; The sales model of edible mushrooms in China still mainly follows the model of "origin acquisition - origin market distribution - sales market wholesale - urban and rural vendor retail" or "agricultural supermarket docking", mainly relying on traditional wholesale and retail sales models. Modern supermarket chain operations, order agriculture, online transactions, agency transactions, and bidding auctions are still in the initial or exploratory stage, which seriously restricts the development and growth of China's edible mushroom industry. Moreover, the price adjustment mechanism of the edible mushroom circulation market is not sound enough. Once the supply and demand in the professional market dominated by wholesale markets lose balance, the price of edible mushrooms will deviate from its value, resulting in significant price fluctuations and affecting the overall development of the industry.

Outlook/Reasonable Planning of Industrial Layout

During the 13th Five Year Plan period, due to the shortage of labor resources, rising raw material costs, and policy guidance for the comprehensive utilization of crop straw, the main planting areas of edible mushrooms will further shift from the eastern coastal areas to the central and western regions, and from economically developed areas in the south to economically underdeveloped areas in the north. Therefore, the layout of the edible mushroom industry must be based on the climate conditions, production raw material resources, labor resources, and other factors in various regions of China. It should be based on the foundation of the edible mushroom industry, the level of socio-economic development, and market consumption capacity. We must adhere to scientific planning, rational layout, staggered development, and prioritize benefits. At the same time, the construction of edible mushroom themed parks promotes the deep integration of edible mushroom cultivation, preservation and processing with the tertiary industry. In the construction of edible fungi industrial parks, we should give full play to the advantages of various regions, form regional characteristics, and build modern agricultural industrial parks, economic and technological development zones, tourism expo parks, and cultural tourism science parks with edible fungi as an important element in line with local conditions. We should strive to organically combine edible fungi parks with modern agricultural parks, horticultural expo industries, tourism tourism industries, and catering consumption industries, so that the edible fungi industry can be deeply integrated with the Internet industry, the Internet of Things industry, and other industries. According to the regional development advantages and consumption layout of edible fungi, we should gradually define the distribution node cities of edible fungi at different levels, and focus on strengthening the construction of national and regional origin, distribution and wholesale markets of edible fungi, as well as edible fungi trading (exhibition) centers and logistics nodes with international influence. Constructing an edible mushroom commercial logistics park, supporting the construction of e-commerce trading platforms and modern logistics distribution systems, and initially forming a modern logistics system that integrates edible mushroom production, processing, packaging, warehousing, and transportation.

Relying on government technology plans, we will strengthen investment in enterprise research and development funds, establish a collaborative mechanism between industry, academia, and research, and carry out innovation in edible mushroom breeding materials and methods, breakthrough breeding of new varieties and the research and application of supporting technologies, and domestication research of precious wild edible mushrooms. At the same time, relying on enterprises and projects, research will be conducted on efficient and specialized edible mushroom cultivation substrates and preservation processing technologies and equipment with regional characteristics for bulk edible mushroom varieties suitable for rural cultivation modes.

In addition, relying on the Standardization Committee and Expert Committee of the China Edible Fungi Association, we will revise and improve the national standards, industry standards, and local standards that have already been formulated. We will also develop new national standards, industry standards, and distinctive local standards that are needed for industrial development, supplement and improve China's edible fungi industry standard system, and establish a comprehensive edible fungi product certification system. And accelerate the construction of the standard system for edible mushroom circulation, formulate and promote the operating norms and technical standards for edible mushroom cold chain, strengthen the standardization construction of many systems such as edible mushroom wholesale markets, warehousing logistics, refrigerated transportation, packaging labeling, and retail markets, promote the branding, labeling standardization, quality grading, and packaging standardization of edible mushroom products. At the same time, we encourage more agricultural universities and vocational colleges to offer edible mushroom majors, improve China's ability to cultivate specialized talents in edible mushrooms, and provide the industry with more composite specialized talents at different levels. Industry associations collaborate with enterprises and universities to strengthen the training of various practical talents. Enterprises and cooperatives should strengthen the introduction of edible mushroom technology and management talents, as well as vocational skills training for existing talents. Utilize the national edible mushroom industry technology system and local innovation team experts, grassroots agricultural technicians, and technical backbones of grassroots industry associations to conduct various technical training meetings and on-site technical guidance in achievement transformation and technology promotion bases, vigorously cultivating practical talents in rural areas.