BF 153: Indoor Specialty Mushroom Production

Cultivating in Spare Rooms, Basements, and Buildings

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Managing indoor spaces for production of high quality mushrooms

Mushrooms are an emerging niche crop with many benefits and offer a unique and highly desired product. With a bit of practice, oyster, shiitake, lions mane, and other mushrooms can easily be grown in a variety of locations and on many different substrates including straw, coffee grounds, and more.

This course trains new and experienced farmers in the background, techniques, and economics of farm scale indoor commercial production. Students will learn the basic biology of mushrooms, cultivation techniques, proper conditions for fruiting, management and pest needs, and harvesting and marketing mushrooms.

Note: In addition to weekly online readings, presentation, and discussion, we encourage participants to order supplies to try mini mushroom experiments on their tabletop at home. Supplies are under $50 and details on what to order are posted in the course.

Target Audience

All levels - This course is for beginning mushroom growers who are new or experienced farmers seeking to diversify their operations. It’s also relevant to others at any scale, interested in this topic. Growing as a viable economic enterprise will be discussed, though techniques can also be applied at any scale. Mushroom growing is an easy topic for beginners with some experience farming and managing crop systems.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, you will:

  • Be able to describe the basics of indoor mushroom production, harvesting, and marketing

  • Know the infrastructure needs and options for indoor cultivation
  • Understand the logistics of management, sales, and legal issues related to mushroom farming


Webinars

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in Teachable, our virtual classroom. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the online interface of the course to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from outside presenters and ask questions to address your farm issues in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.

Webinar Schedule

In 2026, this course will be offered live for 6 weeks on Tuesdays from 6:30 – 8:00 PM (Eastern) from January 13 – February 17. While we encourage live attendance, so you have the opportunity to engage with presenters and ask questions, all webinars are recorded and posted in the online classroom to watch anytime. Once enrolled in this course, you will retain access to all materials indefinitely, and can return to participate in the live webinars in future offerings of the course if you wish. Join us!


Your Instructor


Cecilia De La Fuente + Marina Delgado
Cecilia De La Fuente + Marina Delgado

Cecilia De La Fuente, an anthropologist and Community Mushroom Educator with Cornell Small Farms Program, has specialized in sustainability and urban agriculture having worked on diverse projects related to these topics. Currently, she leads Cosmoplantitas, a project focused on experimenting with accessible methods for cultivation and developing nutritional products to promote mushroom consumption as a more sustainable alternative.

Marina Delgado is a Senior Community Scientist at BioBus, an NYC-based non-profit organization that helps students historically excluded from the scientific community discover, explore and pursue science. In her role, Marina facilitates community outreach, develops and leads a variety of informal science education programs, and manages program execution in the Lower East Side. She became interested in mushrooms as a form of empowering the community she works in through food justice, and joined the 2020 Community Mushroom Educator Program. Since then, she has worked with Cornell Small Farms to make materials and workshops more accessible to the Spanish-speaking community, developed curriculum for and facilitated Mushroom 101 classes with NYC Farm School and Cornell Small Farms.


Student Testimonials

"Now I know exactly what do to with the old shed on my farm. Being able to get hands-on experience throughout the course was a big plus! I'd recommend this course to anyone interested in mushroom production."

"Having the opportunity to be a part of a group of people learning and sharing all about fungi. I really enjoyed learning from all the different people here. The resources provided are outstanding and greatly appreciated. Excellent course. Thank you!"

"The videos are great! The reference materials were effective."

Course Curriculum


  General Course Resources
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  Week 1: Mycology 101
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  Week 2: Cultivation Stages & Propagation Techniques
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Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course officially starts and ends on the dates given above, when the instructors get involved and begin hosting live weekly webinars. If you are registering after the webinars have concluded for the year, you will have immediate access to all the course materials, and will be able to participate in the next year's webinars if you choose to.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 7 days and we will give you a full refund.

Online Course Tiered Pricing

The Cornell Small Farms Program offers a tiered pricing model to provide greater access to our online courses. To determine your course enrollment cost, please consult the chart below, and honestly identify your current financial situation.


We realize that not everyone is able to afford the price of our courses, so we also offer a small number of scholarships each year to New York State residents. To apply, please read scholarship requirements and complete the application here.

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