An initial pricing analysis for a semi-autonomous modular specialty mushroom cultivation chamber
Driven by changing culinary tastes, demand for specialty edible mushroom varieties (i.e. varieties other than the button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus) in the United States is growing rapidly. Mushrooms have been named one of the top trends for the fourth consecutive year by food industry trend spotters. Nevertheless, domestic production lags far behind demand, leading to half of annual sales being imported from outside of the country. To help domestic growers be more competitive, a novel cultivation technology named MycoLogic has been developed to remove the variability from growing conditions, boosting annual yields and reducing costs. As a prototype for scalable implementation, this study presents a framework and currently available information relevant to pricing decisions for a modified 40- foot sized shipping container equipped with MycoLogic's cultivation technology. Initial pricing valuations estimate that each MycoLogic module can create between 46,602 and 161,809 dollars of added value over its 20-year lifetime. A sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the two most sensitive variables affecting this value are the average price per pound of mushrooms and the yield per five-pound block of substrate. At this early phase, it costs an estimated $15,962 to manufacture each cultivation module. In the future, a standardized method to compare mushroom yields across cultivation techniques and structures will be developed to quantify differences in yields, provide benchmarks, and estimate yields from new projects.