Planting forests while growing protein-rich food seems like a win-win, so are there any potential downsides? Lynne Boddy, Professor of Fungal Ecology at Cardiff University, believes that mycoforestry “absolutely” has the potential to produce significant food crops while sequestering carbon. However, she advocates “tremendous care” in doing so. “In my opinion, when we inoculate something, it has to have local provenance,” she says of the fungi. “There’s the concern of an invasive genotype if it comes from elsewhere. Even if it comes from the UK and you just plant the same thing in one area, there’s a concern of diluting the gene pool. You’re also likely to reduce local species diversity. “
Thomas says these are valid questions, but points out that this project is focused on using fungal species native to the planting area and with less aggressive strains than those already inoculated by many nurseries to promote tree growth – although he acknowledges that could be the potential for another company to look into using some form of genetic modification in the future, which would require regulatory approval.
There is also the question of what happens to the trees. If they remain standing or produce timber that is used as building material, it pulls carbon down from the atmosphere in the long run. But if the tree ends up breaking down or being burned – as is often the case with Christmas trees – then much of the recorded carbon can end up back in the atmosphere. Yet this cycle would still produce protein with a low net carbon footprint.
This process can make future Christmas trees more sustainable, Jump believes. The conventional way of growing Christmas trees is “a pretty inefficient system if you look at it from a carbon perspective,” he says. “You might suck the carbon into the tree, but then you throw the trees away after Christmas. Getting the mushrooms connected to the Christmas trees is actually quite a nice way to reduce the carbon impact.”
A milk cap fungus.Courtesy of Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd.
But the main question must be, how do the mushrooms taste? “Fantastic,” says Thomas. Some of their common names suggest their taste and appearance, including the “delicious milk cap” and – Jump’s favorite – “penny buns”. “They’re just so cute,” he explains. But Thomas will not be swayed by choosing a favourite. “I love them all,” he says, laughing. “There are too many really cool ones.”