The most popular mushroom in Canada is the white button mushroom Agaricus bisporus, followed by brown and portabella mushrooms. Specialty mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, king oyster and enoki, are gaining in popularity but are grown on a much smaller scale than the above three.
There are more than 100 mushroom farms in Canada, with 50 per cent of the nation’s production in Ontario, 35 per cent in British Columbia, 10 per cent in the Prairies and five per cent in Quebec and Maritimes. Chatham-Kent represents about five per cent of the mushroom production in Ontario. There are over 200-million pounds (91,000 tonnes) of mushrooms grown in Canada annually with the majority sold fresh and a small portion canned.
