Kennett Square, Pennsylvania heralds itself as the Mushroom Capital of the World, and in fact, nearly two-thirds of all fresh mushroom production happens in and directly around the unique and vibrant small town. 

But how did Chester County and Kennett Square become the center of mushroom production in the U.S.? After all, mushrooms are grown indoors, so they can be grown anywhere—and in fact, there are mushroom growing facilities all over the country. So, why Kennett Square? 

To coin a phrase from “Joy of Painting” host Bob Ross, it was really a happy ‘not so little’ accident. 

Sometime around 1885, according to local lore, William Swayne was a successful florist in Kennett Square. He was bothered by wasted space under the carnation beds in his greenhouses, and thought of growing mushrooms there. So, he steamed off to Europe, where people were already farming mushrooms, and brought back some spores—or spawn—needed to grow mushrooms. The results were encouraging enough that he built the first mushroom house in the area. His son, J. Bancroft Swayne, returning from college, took over the mushroom business and made it a commercial success, eventually developing a spawn plant and a cannery in addition to the growing houses. They were Kennett Square's original mushroom farmers, and some of their descendants are still in business today. 

Geography certainly didn’t hurt the new industry. Because mushrooms have a short shelf life and need to be stored in cool environments, getting mushrooms to large population centers like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York (before refrigerated trucks) was ideal. And, many of the ingredients used to create compost—the growing medium for mushrooms—could be found locally, including straw, stable bedding and chicken litter, cocoa shells, corn cobs, and more.  

The farms hired laid-off workers from nearby stone quarries—mostly of Italian descent—to handle some of the hard physical labor. Soon, this group started their own farms, and then their sons and cousins joined in. By the 1950s, there were hundreds of mushroom farmers in Chester County, mostly of Italian descent. 

Today, if you have mushrooms on your pizza, in your salad, or blended into your burgers, there’s a good chance those mushrooms were grown in Chester County. According to the latest data, Chester County mushroom farms produced 317 million pounds of white button mushrooms—the most popular mushroom. 

Mushrooms are big business in Pennsylvania. They are the number one cash crop in the state, with a total economic impact of $1.3 billion, supporting more than 9,300 jobs with $313 million in employee compensation. In addition to the direct, indirect, and induced impacts—meaning the industry impacts other industries like health care, retail, accommodations and food services, other ag segments, and more, the mushroom industry also generates considerable tax revenue to the state; more than $18 million annually.

Meet some of the Chester County mushroom farms.

Buona Foods & Bella Mushroom Farms
For the Love of Mushrooms

Gale Ferranto and Peter Ferranto are siblings who operate Buona Foods, which grows, harvests and packs local Pennsylvania mushrooms every day and ships them out to your local stores. Buona Foods has spent nearly 50 years growing mushrooms in Chester County. Their family-owned and operated farm and processing facility has spent three generations supplying our retail and foodservice partners across the country the highest quality mushrooms available.

Forget about Harry and Sally. The story of Rosemarie “Roro” Ferranto and mushrooms is truly one of love at first sight. A daughter of Italian immigrants, Roro grew up working on her family’s farm and founded Buona Foods in 1975 by selling mushrooms to local grocers and restaurateurs.

While Roro’s love of mushrooms helped her business grow steadily, it was the other love of her life that helped Buona Foods become a premier East Coast mushroom supplier. Roro’s husband Robert “Bear” Ferranto joined Buona Foods in 1975, bringing 26 years of production management experience along with him. Together, Roro and Bear grew the business in size and scope.

Today, three generations of Ferrantos take a hands-on approach to ensuring Buona Foods packages and distributes fresh mushrooms from their PA farm to store shelves in the same day. 

Buona Foods has a booth at the Mushroom Festival serving their famous breaded mushrooms.

To-Jo Mushrooms
All in the Family

In 1932, Joseph A. D’Amico was a stonemason by trade. In the early 1930’s he purchased a Stone Quarry in Avondale, which happened to include a small mushroom house located on the property. Shortly thereafter he began growing mushrooms on the farm, producing 50,000 pounds annually. Joe’s sons Alfred and Anthony J. “Tootsie” D’Amico took over farming operations in the 1950’s and expanded the farm to 550,000 pounds of mushrooms annually. Nearly 30 years later, in 1980, To-Jo Mushrooms was formed when Anthony’s son John D. and Joseph D’Amico, Sr. split the business into JD Mushrooms, the growing operation; and To-Jo Mushrooms—the Sales and Marketing operation, naming the business after Joe’s sons Tony and Joe. Over the years, the company grows, and in 2007, Joe’s sons Tony and Joe Jr. take over the company. 

Although To-Jo has evolved over the years its culture and success can always be traced back to the roots of the D’Amico family. Its name and logo are great examples of this; the name To-Jo literally means Tony and Joe, and the five mushrooms symbolize Joseph Sr., Louise, and their children Tony, Joe, and Anita.

Phillips Mushroom Farms
Something Special

In 1927, William Phillips started with a small mushroom growing business in Kennett Square. Before this time, mushrooms were a winter crop, in part due to temperature. William was one of the first to use ice for temperature control—making it possible for mushrooms to grow year-round—providing a significant breakthrough for the mushroom industry. Williams’s passion for growing top-quality mushrooms and his dedication to customers is what encouraged his drive for innovation. It inspired many in the area including his sons, Donald and Marshall.

The tradition of Phillips family innovators continued. In 1962, William's sons, Donald and Marshall, formed a partnership and expanded the family growing operation into the packaging, marketing, and transportation of white mushrooms throughout New England.

In 1979, Donald and Marshall felt a need to diversify their business and began experimenting with shiitake mushrooms that were grown indoors on supplemented sawdust logs. Their commitment to this project enabled them to become the first successful indoor shiitake growers in the U.S.  Additional mushroom varieties, innovative packaging and nationwide promotional campaigns expanded the specialty mushrooms division dramatically over the next 13 years.  

Over the years, Phillips Mushroom Farms has expanded facilities, and today is the largest specialty mushroom farm in the country, in addition to their growing white button mushroom business.  

Basciani Foods
A Growing Tradition of Quality

Basciani Foods does everything. They grow all sizes of white mushrooms and specialty mushrooms, pack for national retail grocery store chains as well as for foodservice distributors, we have multiple processing and storage facilities in the U.S., all under the guidance of third generation Richard A. Basciani Sr., Mario J. Basciani Sr., and Michael J. Basciani Sr. Together they have more than 150 years of experience working in the production and wholesale of mushrooms and other produce, shipping more than 1.5 million pounds of mushrooms every week. 

The family shares a vision of continued growth and success for the Basciani Family and the mushroom industry as a whole. With their persistent, unrelenting care and guidance, the Basciani brothers hope to construct more growing rooms and expand Basciani Foods facilities to accommodate tens of millions of pounds of mushrooms more annually, over the next decade.

Masda Mushrooms/First Generation Farms
Land of Opportunity

In 1980, Daniel Beltran, then 16 years old, left his family’s small dairy farm in Jalisco, just north of Mexico City, for opportunity here in the U.S. 

Daniel first worked in agriculture in California but moved east for better pay. His first job was in Avondale, PA, laying down compost in the beds used to grow mushrooms. Then he moved up to becoming a harvester with Avondale’s Elite Mushroom Co., where he eventually became a supervisor. But he aspired to do more, and in 1994, with the encouragement of his wife, he rented three standard mushroom houses, each with 8,000 square feet of growing beds. He farmed mushrooms part-time—sometimes full time—until the winter of 1995, when he left Elite to become a full-time mushroom grower. 

Over the past 40 years, Daniel and his family have built a mushroom business with more than 600,000 square feet of growing space and more than 100 employees. 

And speaking of family, MASDA is an amalgam of Beltran family names. “M” is for Daniel’s wife, Maria Beltran. “A” is for Alberto, Daniel and Maria’s son, “S” is for Sonya, who holds a master’s degree in business organization from Immaculata University and works at First Generation Farms, and “D” is for Daniel, the patriarch. For a decade or so, the “A” at the end of Masda was just there so the company name would be pronounceable. Then, a little over 15 years ago, the family was blessed with a baby girl whose name just happened to be Avril.