There’s a moment in mushroom growing that no video can quite hand you — the first time you pour a jar of healthy grain spawn into substrate and feel how it should look, smell, and crumble. Hands-on courses exist for exactly that moment. Below is a directory of teachers and farms around the world running in-person mushroom cultivation workshops, organised by region so you can find one close to home.
Full disclosure before we dive in: we run one of these courses ourselves, down here on the shores of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala — so yes, you’ll find Fungi Academy on this list. But I’ve tried to play it straight and include everyone I could get my hands on, because the point of this page is to get you growing, wherever you are. If there’s a good teacher closer to you than me, go learn from them. The Fungi don’t care whose flow hood you’re standing in front of.
The short version: Hands-on mushroom cultivation courses are taught all over the world — Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, across Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and South America. Most run from one to six days and cover sterile technique, spawn, substrate and fruiting. If you can’t travel to one, a thorough online cultivation course is the next best thing. This page lists the in-person options region by region.
Why take a hands-on course?
You can absolutely learn to grow mushrooms from books and videos — plenty of people do. But cultivation is a craft of small sensory details: the tackiness of properly hydrated substrate, the particular white of clean colonisation versus the off-green of contamination, the rhythm of working in front of a flow hood. An in-person course compresses months of trial and error into a weekend, and you walk away having already done the thing once, with someone experienced watching over your shoulder.
Courses also differ in focus. Some are aimed at hobbyists growing gourmet mushrooms for the kitchen; others are built for entrepreneurs planning a commercial farm and cover lab design, strain selection and marketing. A few specialise — outdoor log and bed cultivation, cordyceps, foraging certification. It’s worth matching the course to where you actually want to end up before you book.
Learn with Fungi Academy
We run hands-on cultivation training from our farm on the shores of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala — a multi-day immersion where you grow gourmet, medicinal and sacred mushrooms from spore to harvest alongside other students. Prefer to learn from home? Our self-paced online course covers the same ground.
How to use this directory
The list below covers hands-on courses — workshops where you physically work with mycelium, substrate and equipment. It’s organised by continent, then country. We’ve described each provider in our own words; always check the provider’s own site for current dates, pricing and what’s included, as those change often. Jump to a region:
Africa
Kenya
- Mushroom Kenya — Based at Karen Farm in Nairobi, they offer a one-day introductory training for beginners and a three-day comprehensive program for those wanting a fuller grounding in cultivation.
South Africa
- Mushroom Academy — Runs half-day and full-day cultivation courses pitched at everyone from aspiring entrepreneurs to commercial-scale growers.
- Valley Mushroom Farm — Teaches and consults for gourmet and medicinal mushroom enthusiasts, with a strong focus on those who want to grow mushrooms as a business.
Asia
Thailand
- Mushroom World — A Singapore-based company that runs one-day and three-day cultivation workshops from its farm in Phuket, Thailand.
Europe
Belgium
- Mycelia School — Offers four- and five-day courses covering substrate production, spawn production and lab design, available as both group classes and one-on-one tuition.
Serbia
- Eko Fungi School — A six-day, all-inclusive program that pairs practical cultivation training with the business side of building a mushroom enterprise.
Spain
- Cultivar Hongos — Based in Calahorra, La Rioja, they train growers in spawn and substrate production and the cultivation of button and gourmet mushrooms.
United Kingdom
- Coed Talylan — Runs two-day courses centred on outdoor cultivation techniques such as logs and beds.
- Brighton Permaculture Trust — Two-day workshops that get beginners started growing gourmet mushrooms both indoors and outdoors.
North America
United States
- Fungaia Farm — A California farm whose workshops focus on outdoor cultivation methods.
- Fungi for the People — Offers a range of mycology classes spanning gourmet mushrooms, cordyceps cultivation and mycoremediation.
- Midwest American Mycological Information (MAMI) — Best known for its wild mushroom foraging certification programs.
- Mushroom Mountain — Tradd Cotter teaches one- to five-day cultivation courses from his farm in South Carolina.
- MycoSymbiotics — Led by William Padilla-Brown, with courses that often centre on his specialty, cordyceps cultivation.
- Myer’s Mushrooms — Eric Myer runs two-day mushroom farming workshops in Kansas, kept small at a maximum of six students per class.
Canada
- What the Fungus — Brian Callow offers an on-site, six-day mentorship program from his farm in Summerland, covering lab design, strain selection, substrates, spawn, and sales and marketing.
- Champignons Maison — A Montreal-based outfit running short courses in applied mycology.
- Fungi Akuafo — Based in Calgary, Alberta, Tara and Meghan teach both online and in-person courses on indoor and outdoor cultivation.
Oceania
Australia
- Forest Fungi — Will Borowski has been teaching mushroom cultivation longer than just about anyone in Australia. He runs one- and two-day courses in Tasmania and periodically teaches in other states.
- Little Acre — Runs one-day cultivation courses tuned to growing in Brisbane’s sub-tropical climate.
- Milkwood — Nick Ritar teaches two-day gourmet mushroom cultivation workshops several times a year.
- Urban Kulture — Aaron Boyer and his team run short courses across Australia to get beginners started with gourmet mushrooms.
South America
Colombia
- Setas de Siecha — Located in Macheta, Cundinamarca, they offer in-person and virtual courses on mushroom cultivation and mycelium production, plus Fungi Kingdom workshops for children and young adults.
Guatemala
- Fungi Academy — Set on the shores of Lake Atitlán, our hands-on courses teach every skill you need to begin your gourmet, medicinal and sacred mushroom growing journey — taught as a multi-day immersion alongside a community of fellow growers.
No course near you? Start online
In-person courses are wonderful, but they’re not always practical — the nearest one might be a continent away, or the dates never line up. The good news is that mushroom cultivation translates well to self-paced learning, as long as the course is thorough and shows real technique rather than just talking about it. Our online mushroom cultivation course walks you from spore to harvest with 70+ video lessons and a private community to troubleshoot with. And if you just want to get your hands dirty this weekend, our free step-by-step grow guide is a solid place to begin.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a mushroom cultivation course?
Most hands-on courses run between one and six days. One-day workshops give you a solid introduction and a take-home grow kit; multi-day programs go deeper into sterile lab work, spawn and substrate production, and — for the longer commercial courses — farm and lab design.
Do I need experience before taking a course?
No. The large majority of these courses are designed for complete beginners. A few advanced or commercial-focused programs assume some background, so check each provider’s description before booking.
Is an online course as good as an in-person one?
Each has strengths. In-person courses give you immediate, hands-on feedback and the feel of working with live cultures. A good online course gives you lifetime access to revisit lessons, a lower cost, and no travel — and many growers do perfectly well learning that way. The best choice depends on your budget, location and how you like to learn.
Know a course we missed?
This directory only includes hands-on courses, and the mushroom world is always growing. If you run or know of a cultivation course that should be on this list, get in touch and we’ll take a look.
