UQ AFIA grants fueling eclectic food research innovations

Little Acre Gourmet Mushrooms co-founders Mickey and Amy Pascoe established their business after seeing a gap in the market for the product in south east Queensland.

They a grow a multitude of mushroom species inside a purpose-built laboratory, including Oysters, King Browns, Lion's Mane, Reishi, and Shiitake.

The couple then retail punnets, DIY grow kits, spawns, and also in-person masterclass growing courses.

Supply and demand for their exotic mushrooms excelled during the pandemic, with consumers looking for alternative ways to grow their own food at home due to supermarket shortages.

Mr Pascoe said they were fascinated by the process of growing their own mushrooms at home.

"We started by creating a little brand and then we went to some friends who were running restaurants and we asked them, would they be interested in mushrooms if we grew gourmet mushrooms? And they were really interested," he said.

"I started searching around on the internet to see if anyone was growing gourmet mushrooms in Brisbane and no one was for the varieties that we wanted to supply.

"I found a gap in the market and it's so hard to find a gap and especially when there's no one providing this service at all."

Little Acre Gorumet Mushrooms sell around 300 DIY grow kits a week online, into all states and territories, which can peak to 1000 per week during the holidays.

The business also farms and process around 250kg of fresh mushrooms each week that go mostly to restaurants in their local area.

Mickey and Amy are now working with the University of Queensland (UQ) on increasing the production yield and quality of their gourmet mushrooms.

They're one of seven local agri-food businesses undergoing food research as part of UQ's Agri-Food Innovation Alliance (AFIA) $160,000 kickstarter grant program.

The Pascoes will work with a team of researchers at UQ to undergo research into electrical stimulation of the mushroom plant.

"We want to understand more about this natural phenomenon, and how it can be used in a commercial sense to increase the production," Mr Pascoe said.

UQ AFIA Director Professor Melissa Fitzgerald said the Alliance was exhilarated by the creativity and breadth of the applicants' food research ideas.

"Faster-growing, value-added custard apples, healthier probiotic lettuces and commercially scaled rare, gourmet mushrooms are now being developed through this inventive program," Professor Fitzgerald said.

"And we're not just talking about new food creations - we have grant recipients focusing on the antimicrobial properties of native Australian plants, are looking to engage unemployed youth in agriculture, or are working on new plant-based packaging options."

The aim of AFIA's Kickstarter grant program is to contribute to post-COVID recovery by boosting local premium food and agriculture enterprises, growing skills and securing jobs throughout communities.

"At its core, the initiative makes it possible for UQ researchers and educators to work together with small-to-medium agri-food businesses as equal partners," Professor Fitzgerald said.

"These projects will bring together experts from very different backgrounds, each with the common goal of improving and innovating in the food and agriculture space.

"By facilitating long-term relationships between universities and industry, we're also lowering the barriers that businesses face when trying to access university expertise to improve their products and processes.

"There were so many excellent submissions, and we couldn't choose them all, but we are confident that these projects will provide real commercial and community impacts."