These North Carolina Veterans Successfully Transitioned Their Farm from Hogs to Mushrooms
When they realized they were losing five dollars on every pig leaving their farm, brothers and veterans Jerry and Steve Carroll gave up hog farming and started using their barns for storage. Later, their friend Shahane Taylor helped them convert one of the barns to a full-fledged mushroom farm. Today, Carolina Mushroom Farm provides North Carolina with seven varieties of delicious mushrooms through wholesale and farmers markets, and the company ships its mushroom supplements all over the country.
The team retrofitted the old hog barns with the heat and AC units needed for temperature control, ordered their first mushroom spawn, and officially launched Carolina Mushroom Farm in 2016.
Carolina Mushroom Farm grows seven different types of mushrooms, including specialty varieties like lion’s mane and king trumpet. It also produces and sells four mushroom supplements, which Shahane describes as “superfoods for the brain that have great medicinal benefits.”
The farm distributes its products through foodservice providers, produce-box delivery, and in-person consumer channels, such as farmers markets, proving that diversification is essential to running a successful business.
“Farming is fifty-fifty being a farmer and being a businessman,” Shahane says. “Both skill sets are absolutely needed.”
Jerry, Steve, and Shahane’s business is a roaring success and a perfect example of Transfarmation’s potential. Carolina Mushroom Farm’s products are available for purchase at farmers markets in Raleigh, Morrisville, and Colfax.
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