Sustainability Assessment of a Qingyuan Mushroom Culture System Based on Emergy

Xingguo Gu, Qixian Lai, Moucheng Liu, Ziqun He, Qingyang Zhang and Qingwen Min
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Xingguo Gu: Institute of Rural Development, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 298, Middle Desheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou 310021, China
Qixian Lai: Institute of Rural Development, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 298, Middle Desheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou 310021, China
Moucheng Liu: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
Ziqun He: Institute of Rural Development, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 298, Middle Desheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou 310021, China
Qingyang Zhang: Qingyuan Scientific Research Center of Edible Fungi, No. 138, Xinjian Road, Qingyuan County, Lishui 310021, China
Qingwen Min: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: The Qingyuan mushroom culture system (QMCS) in Zhejiang Province has been recognized as the source of the world’s first artificial cultivation of mushrooms with a history of more than 800 years. The system embodies the farming wisdom of the local people who have adapted themselves to and utilized nature and has integrated the traditional bark hacking method with multiple modern patterns for mushroom cultivation based on artificial microbial strains. We have investigated the input–output operation of farmers and assessed and analyzed emergy indicators in a bid to reflect and compare their economic and ecological benefits, as well as their sustainable development by analyzing the three typical mushroom cultivation patterns. The cost-benefit analysis of the three patterns shows that the sawdust medium-cultivated method (SMCM) is characterized by dominance in both net income without labor cost and labor productivity; while the evaluation based on emergy indicators has proven that each has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of ecological and economic benefits and sustainable development. Among them, the bark hacking method (BHM) features the highest utilization rates of local and renewable resources, the smallest damage to the environment, the lowest production efficiency, and the highest exchange efficiency, but the sawdust medium-cultivated method is just the opposite, and the log-cultivated method (LCM) is the most favorable one for sustainable development. As its agricultural heritage, the QMCS’ core of dynamic protection and adaptive management lies in enhancing the sustainable development of its agricultural production methods. It is recommended that the three patterns be improved by targeting their respective shortcomings and at the same time, integrate their advantages to explore a new sustainable development pattern for mushroom cultivation.

Keywords: agricultural heritage systems; qingyuan mushroom culture system; bark hacking method; log-cultivated method; sawdust medium-cultivated method; emergy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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