A significant number of mushroom farms have indeed closed since the start of the war. Some of them rebuilt and resumed operations during the first six months of the war. It is worth noting that Veres, one of the largest mushroom farms in Ukraine, ceased operations. However, two things are important to emphasise here: first, it mainly produced mushrooms for processing rather than for the fresh market; second, the reason for the shutdown was not the war but internal problems.
More Than 150 Mushroom Farms in Ukraine Have Returned to Pre-War Production Levels
21 October 2026, 06:12 3018
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, mushroom production in Ukraine has declined, but not significantly. In 2020, it amounted to more than 60 thousand tonnes per year, while in 2025 it stood at around 50–60 thousand tonnes per year.
AgroPortal.ua was told this by Mushroom Growing News, an international online media outlet for commercial mushroom growers.
Inna Ustylovska, Editor at Mushroom Growing News
According to Mushroom Growing News, as of the beginning of 2026, Ukraine has:
- 34 farms producing more than 1,000 tonnes per year;
- 78 farms producing between 100 and 1,000 tonnes per year;
- around 40 farms producing between 5 and 100 tonnes per year.
Inna Ustylovska says that since the start of the war, some farms, mainly in western Ukraine, have added new mushroom growing rooms. There are also farms that have automated or partially modernised production and purchased equipment.
Inna Ustylovska, Editor at Mushroom Growing News
Mushroom farms are facing difficulties — economically, with electricity, which is needed to maintain the proper climate for mushroom cultivation, and with labour. One noticeable difference is that work that was traditionally done by men on many farms is now often performed by women. For example, carrying boxes of mushrooms or moving picking trolleys to another rack. Therefore, business owners are trying to automate production processes as much as possible. And despite all the difficulties and challenges, mushroom farms continue to operate.
The businesses produce not only for the domestic market but also export certain volumes of fresh mushrooms from western Ukraine to Poland. Mushroom Growing News notes that these are small consignments, but exports are stable.
As for imports, Ukraine brings in small volumes of button mushrooms from Poland, as well as limited quantities of exotic mushrooms, whose main producers and suppliers are China and Korea. However, the exotic mushroom segment in Ukraine, as in Europe overall, remains quite small.
Looking at the mushroom industry as a whole, a significant change has been the decline in the number of plants producing compost for button mushroom cultivation in Ukraine. At present, only two operators are effectively active:
- Agaris, which has two plants in Ternopil and Cherkasy regions;
- Svit Solomy LLC in Mykolaiv Region.
Inna Ustylovska notes that every year Mushroom Growing News receives several enquiries from mushroom growers considering joining several farms together and investing in their own compost plant, but so far none of these projects has been implemented.
Download the 2026 mushroom growing report with data from 40 countries.
Liudmyla Lebid, AgroPortal.ua
