Ellijay Mushrooms

In the north Georgia town of Ellijay, a mushroom farm co-owned by Howard Berk and Megan Cai grows hand-picked, certified organic shitake and oyster mushrooms. As this specialty crop grows in popularity, farmers and researchers look for ways to boost production in Georgia.  

Since Ellijay Mushroom’s first harvest in 2018, the sustainable food business has been growing mushrooms year-round, selling them to wholesalers, restaurants, grocery stores like Whole Foods, and food hubs like The Common Market. But production is weather-dependent: high in the summer and slower in the winter with space heaters working overtime to keep the air inside the farm’s 10 double-layered greenhouses above freezing.  

Soon, the farm will receive a 40-foot converted shipping container from the BioInnovation Lab at Kennesaw State University (KSU) that is programmed to keep conditions optimal for the mushrooms and increase production. KSU researchers studying mushroom cultivation have taken the practice of controlled environment agriculture, which in Georgia is used mostly to produce leafy greens, to help mushroom growers boost the competitiveness of this specialty crop.  

Ellijay Mushrooms secured a matching grant from the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Center of Innovation that, along with KSU’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Specialty Crop Block Grant, will allow them to install the smart container at their farm. The container will be a game changer as the demand for mushrooms intensifies. 

That demand has grown substantially in the past 10 years, Berk says, as people become more aware of the kinds of foods they’re putting in their bodies and as the vegan and vegetarian communities look for alternatives to tofu. He hopes to improve the public image of mushrooms by “changing one tastebud at a time.”  

“Right now, everyone has mushrooms in everything, so it’s been pretty amazing to see that business grow,” Berk said. “People know that there’s other healthy, good vegan options that have good protein and taste really good. Our mushrooms are thick and meaty, fresh.”   

The health benefits of mushrooms have been widely studied, and the “magic mountain water” Berk uses to grow Ellijay Mushrooms gives them their special taste, he says.  

Innovation and Sustainability  

Giving back to the community and creating more sustainable farming practices are priorities for the family-owned business. 

The farm is certified Georgia Grown, Naturally Grown, Appalachian Grown, and Certified Organic. Their packaging is plastic-free, and all of their waste gets turned into compost that other farmers and vineyards in the Ellijay area use.  

The AgTech team with the Center of Innovation has also helped Ellijay Mushrooms find a way to create the moistened logs used to grow their fungi, which are made of recycled agricultural materials. The Center helped connect Berk with resources to obtain a loan to purchase and repurpose wood pellet equipment to manufacture the logs. 

“We’re working with KSU to start using all the ag waste that’s sitting around these Georgia farms, like corn husks and peanut shells and cotton gin trash, and start making the logs,” Berk said. “We’re going to change the game because most of our logs are imported from overseas, so we’re going to stop that footprint and start making all the logs.”  

This waste-to-revenue process is one of the things that makes Ellijay Mushrooms such an innovative small business. The farm’s community initiatives include working with Gilmer High School’s agriculture department to set up curriculum for students to learn about studying these species – called mycology, and giving young men and women in rural Georgia good-paying jobs and opportunities for a career.  

Other future endeavors for the business include setting up educational tours and allowing visitors to pick their own mushrooms.  

“For us it’s pretty simple – we take care of one another, we take care of the earth, we take care of our mushrooms, which hopefully will take care of whoever is consuming it,” Berk said.  

For these reasons and more, Ellijay Mushrooms is named a 2023 Small Business ROCK STAR. 

Every year in honor of Georgia Small Business Week, the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) and the Georgia Economic Developers Association (GEDA) team up to present a few outstanding small businesses with the title of Small Business ROCK STARS. The awards salute the risks, innovations, outreach, and impact of the state’s small businesses. Each of this year’s winners have fewer than 300 full-time employees, make a positive impact in their community, and were founded in the State of Georgia. Learn more about the program and the rest of the 2023 ROCK STARS and nominate a company for the 2024 Small Business ROCK STAR Awards.