Guided By Mushrooms Featured in WYSO Radio Report

From WYSO Radio News:

“Guided by Mushrooms, a mushroom farm in Dayton, was forced to find new outlets for its products after the federal government terminated the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, or LFPA.

That program had paid Ohio farmers to distribute their food to local schools and food banks. Now, producers across the state are being forced to find other pathways for selling their products.

“I could say that that process might be coming a little bit easier for us, but probably less so for smaller farms whose market was more concentrated towards LFPA,” said Michael Goldstick, owner and sales manager for Guided by Mushrooms. 

Guided by Mushrooms has been operating since 2018 out of a small farm New Lebanon. The LFPA Program had paid for the farm to provide 130 pounds of mushrooms a week to Ohio food banks and schools until it ended in June.

Goldstick said while they typically do donate mushrooms to food banks on their own, they relied on LFPA payments to make expanded donations sustainable. Those donations included the Foodbank, Inc., which serves Montgomery, Preble and Greene counties.

“The Foodbank would act as a food hub, an aggregator where they would distribute to churches and schools impoverished areas,” said Goldstick. “They would also do pop-up mobile giveaways.”

The nonprofit Hall Hunger Initiative responded to federal funding cuts by providing the farm with a $2,500 microgrant from July 1 to August 5.”