NMSU fungal students visit mushroom farm in La Mesa

In the classroom, the lab and under a microscope, students in New Mexico State University professor Soum Sanogo’s fungal biology class are learning about the structures of fungi, how fungi survive, spread and reproduce, and their role in the environment, including as a food source.

An April 4 visit to a mushroom farm in La Mesa, New Mexico, “allowed the students to experience how fungi go from the growth on petri plates to producing mushrooms in a commercial production facility,” Sanogo said.

“It is a full circle,” said founder/grower Ximena Zamacona, as she welcomed Sanogo and his students to the first ever public tour of Full Circle Mushrooms (FCM), the mushroom farm she started in 2019 on New Mexico Highway 28, about six miles south of Mesilla.

“We’re very excited to have you here,” FCM Production Supervisor Nathan Sanchez told the students.

 Sanchez said FCM grows a dozen varieties of mushrooms, with names like blue oyster, black pearl, lion’s mane and shiitake. The farm grows about 500 pounds of mushrooms a week, Zamacona said. The mushrooms are sold in grocery stores and at farmers markets and are part of restaurant menus in Las Cruces, El Paso, Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Zamacona has also provided mushrooms for NMSU mushroom cooking demonstrations, Sanogo said, has hired NMSU students (including Sanchez, who earned a degree in biology in 2019), and has visited NMSU “to explore the use of byproducts from mushroom production as soil amendments.”

“Ximena Zamacona and Nathan Sanchez are great cooperators to NMSU in our educational effort to provide experiential learning and workforce development,” said Sanogo, who is a professor in fungal plant pathology in NMSU’s Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science. The mushroom farm tour “exemplifies cooperation of entities within our community in regard to educational and workforce development,” said Sanogo, who has a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Pennsylvania State University.  

“I really enjoyed the visit to Full Circle Mushrooms,” said NMSU biology student Emily Embury. “As a graduate student who is studying fungal ecology, it was fascinating to see another side of fungi. Additionally, as someone who is considering a career in agricultural science, it was inspiring to see a place where my fungal knowledge could be applied and help improve mushroom farming.”

“The tour at Full Circle Mushrooms was surely a great experience for me as I was able to gain a firsthand sight of the behind scenes that occurs at a mushroom farm,” said Lavesh Gamez. “It is quite interesting to see a company working in a transition phase of expanding their operations of growing specialty mushrooms. Being able to see this operation really brings a different perspective to the (class) since we now observe and learn about the actual fruiting bodies of these fungal organisms. “

“I loved visiting Full Circle Mushrooms to see how what we're learning in class applies to industry,” Plant and Environmental Sciences graduate assistant McKenzie Stock said. “In my master's research, I'm working on a study about mushrooms in pecan orchards, and I loved getting to see so many mushroom species at different stages of development, like what we've been learning in Dr. Sanogo's class. Meeting with Ximena and Nathan gave me more insight about how my in-class and research learning could look in a consumer-facing career. I appreciated their thoughtfulness about the environmental and community impact of the systems at Full Circle, such as sharing compost with local farmers and organizations. Plus, mushrooms are just awesome!”

Fungal biology students also got to reflect on their FCM visit during an April 6 exam that included this question: “What do you consider to be the most challenging issues facing mushroom growers?”

“This is one strategy I use to create opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning in terms of facilitating factors and challenges,” Sanogo said.

Zamacona has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in agriculture, a career in controlled-environment crop cultivation, a natural green thumb and a love for sustainability and making nature and science work together. She also conducts mushroom research experimentation at FCM.

Visit eppws.nmsu.edu and fullcirclemushrooms.com.