IA DNR: Cool Weather Leads to Poor Mushroom Crop

Temperatures are warming and the countryside is turning green. For Iowa mushroom hunters, it's a sure signal to head for local woodlands in search of the state's most popular wild edible --- the succulent morel mushroom.

As is the case with most 'catch it and eat it' wild cuisine, the annual morel harvest is a boom or bust, feast or famine proposition. This spring, following four straight years mushroom mega-crops, Iowa appears to have entered the much dreaded mushroom recession.

In southern Iowa, the harvest is being rated at anywhere from fair to good. Generally speaking, the farther north you travel the sparser the crop.

During most bust years, poor mushroom production is attributed to unseasonably dry weather. Not the case this year. Heavy winter snowfall across most of Iowa was followed by ample [often excessive] spring rains. But what continues to be lacking, says experts, is much needed heat. With subsurface woodland soil temperatures warming at a snail's pace, most spores continue to remain dormant.

This year, even the morel rich, limestone bluff country of the upper Mississippi River has failed to produce the much anticipated crop. In what should now be the peak of this spring's harvest, even the most seasoned locals are hard pressed to find more than a hand full or so of mushrooms during an outing. Pros that usually number their take by the hundreds are now fortunate to find more than a dozen or so in the usual secret haunts.

At rural Mississippi River food markets, fresh morels are currently fetching anywhere from $27 to more than $30 a pound and demand often exceeds supply. Last year at this time, mushroom enthusiasts could purchase all they cared to haul at $15 to $18 per pound.

Across the northern half of Iowa, the spring morel season is currently about half way through. And although a series of two or three hot days could still lead to some good finds, there's no doubt that 2008 will go down as the year mushroom hunters would just as soon forget.