HONGOS SILVESTRES Y DE CULTIVO EN ARGENTINA. Historia, regiones y sistemas de producción, hongos silvestres de valor económico, consumo, mercado interno y externo, legislación, oferta tecnológica e investigación y desarrollo

EDGARDO ALBERTÓ; NÉSTOR CURVETTO; JORGE DESCHAMPS; R. GONZALEZ-MATUTE; BERNARDO E. LECHNER

Hacia un Desarrollo Sostenible del Sistema de Producción-Consumo de los Hongos Comestibles y Medicinales en Latinoamérica: avances y perspectivas en el Siglo XXI

Micología Aplicada Internacional

Lugar: Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.; Año: 2009;

Mushroom production and consumption have been steadily increasingworldwide during the last two decades. In Argentina mushroom production began in the40’s although its development was slow. As from the 80’s, several universities around thecountry started to focus on this issue from the scientific point of view, new proposals,together with advances in technology. Training courses have been widely attended byproducers and entrepreneurs and the activity is now seen as a profitable commercialactivity. This chapter presents the reader with a clear description of the past and presentsituation of mushroom cultivation in Argentina, including types of mushrooms, differentsystems of production, productive areas, wild species with economic value, consumption,internal and external markets, update legislation and availability of know-how forcultivation. As agriculture is widely developed in our country there is abundant agroindustry lignocellulosic waste material to be used in the mushroom industry. We expect that the frequent use in gourmet cuisine of wild and cultivated mushrooms, the access to more information, the offer of training courses and the creation of association of farmers will foster the demand for both, fresh and canned mushrooms, and their sub-products. We believe that in a few years mushroom production will extend along the country promoting consumption and major development of this activity.