University of Stirling scientists have led a project to develop a carbon negative food source in the form of edible mushrooms.

The scientists found that by growing edible mushrooms alongside trees they can produce a valuable protein-rich food source for millions of people while capturing carbon, mitigating the impact of climate change.

The study by Paul Thomas, Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, has been published in PNAS (The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), the prestigious journal of The National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Thomas spent two years collating and analysing data from published sources, working in partnership with the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Professor Alistair Jump.

The analysis found that the cultivation of edible ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) in forests may sequester up to 12.8 tonnes of carbon per hectare annually and produce a nutritious food source for nearly 19 million people per year.

“We looked at the emerging field of mycoforestry, where fungi that grow in symbiosis with living trees are used to create a food crop from new tree plantings, and we found that production of fungi using this system can lead to a very significant sequestration of greenhouse gas,” Thomas said.

“This is a huge benefit, which means that by producing this food we can actively help mitigate climate change. When we compared this to other major food groups, this is the only one that would result in such benefits — all other major food categories lead to a greenhouse gas emission during production.”

The University of Stirling is now working with truffle producers Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd to trial the edible mushroom production system.

If successful, the food production system being developed has potential to be scalable for a worldwide rollout.