Recycle Cotton Grain and Cattle waste to develop a Mushroom Circular Economy in the Northern Territory

In response to the global challenges of environmental issues, depleting resources, inflation, and population growth, a project in the Northern Territory (NT) aims to address these issues by recycling agricultural waste like cotton ginning industry waste, cotton crop, and other grain crops residue after harvesting and cattle waste to develop substrate and cultivate mushrooms. Mushrooms renowned for their meaty texture, nutrients, and flavour, are also, celebrated as "vegetarian's meat" or "meat substitutes. Despite the global progress in mushroom cultivation, Australia's mushroom industry still needs to harbor untapped potential, especially in establishing a locally dependent sector that utilizes agricultural and cattle industry waste. In a region where the cattle industry is predominant, followed by horticulture and the expanding agronomy sector, the project's core objective is to determine the optimal substrate composition, and growth conditions for maximizing mushroom growth. Successful implementation holds the potential to establish a new industry in NT, providing socio-economic and environmental advantages.

The project was awarded to CQUniversity to fund 50% stipend of a PhD student for 3 years. Due to the job change of the supervisors to CDU, CQU and CDU decided to transfer the student to CDU, as well as the CRCNA scholarship ($15000/yr for 2 years). The process started since October 2023 and aim to transfer the student to CDU in early 2024, and ASAP.