Hacker News Reader

Comment by Pine_Mushroom | Hacker News Reader

I had a mushroom farm in Northern Michigan some years ago and we grew Golden Oysters, among other species. I think our winters are too cold for them to really establish themselves, but I was hearing reports of them 'going native' in Southern Michigan as long ago as 15 years.

Like the farmer in the article, I also wondered about the apparent lack of effort in growing native species. My area has a wonderful native oyster Pleurotus populinus; exceptional in taste compared to other oysters, but I have never heard of anyone cultivating them.

View on HN

The reason they're growing the golden oysters is simple: they're prettier by far than gray, native oysters.

They both cook down to a boring beige, but package of yellow food will always outsell gray food.

They were a hot seller for us, but they had some notable downsides compared to other oyster varieties. Their self life in particular is quite short, and they tended to bruise black, which really kills the aesthetic value.

I've been thinking about farming in Michigan. If global warming takes off, we should have a nice environment and plenty of water to grow...

I just can't imagine doing agriculture in 2026. I have a masters in Mechanical Engineering and 2 decades of experience. It just seems like something for uneducated people.

Why do you think that?

Michigan already has a pretty great environment for agriculture. I used to always hear we were second only to California in terms of output. If current climate disruptions continue(we've had two "once in a lifetime" catastrophic ice storms just this past year in my area) I may searching for 'greener pastures' myself.

There are all kinds of degrees for farming

Modern farming is much closer to science and engineering than most realize. Rowcropping in particular is heavily reliant on gps, soil chemistry, and genetics to put the right seed, in the right soil, with the right nutrients to maximize output.

One big reason I got out of mushroom farming was a great big mushroom 'factory' was set up not too far from me. They produced literal tons more than we could have ever dreamed, at a much lower cost. They are a highly technical, industrial enterprise. For a while one of their selling points was: 'mushrooms never touched by human hands', to emphasize how automated their system was. I felt like John Henry against the steam shovel.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com