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Powering Business. Strengthening Communities. Powered by Purpose.

July 28, 2026

Kevin Doyle was always interested in science, agriculture and plants. In 1985, his interests turned into business ownership when he and his business partners founded Forest Mushrooms in St. Joseph. Today, the mushroom farm grows and sells over 5,000 pounds of mushrooms per week! Recently, Forest Mushrooms partnered with Stearns Electric Association to complete a lighting retrofit project for rebate. As Doyle puts it, “Although mushrooms don’t need light, people do!”

Just outside of St. Joseph, in the former St. John’s University hog farrowing barn, thousands of pounds of mushrooms are grown, harvested and sold every week.

What began as a hypothetical business plan for a college project, turned into reality in 1985.

“I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid. I was particularly interested in identifying plants,” Doyle recalled. “After studying natural science in college, I worked on a project team focused on figuring out ways to generate energy by using plants. I was specifically focused on soil science and tissue culture.” (For reference, tissue culture is how mushrooms are made.)

A constant learner, Doyle stumbled upon a book which had a chapter on growing mushrooms. Some time later, a college friend was visiting and needed to create a hypothetical business plan for his grad school program. Doyle brought out the book and the chapter on mushrooms. That night, a business model for a mushroom farm was made. And though the final project was turned in, the idea never went away.

Shortly after, that college friend approached Doyle about starting a mushroom farm. Two more friends joined the endeavor and Forest Mushrooms was in business.

Today, Doyle is the sole owner of Forest Mushrooms, which grows and distributes fresh oyster and shiitake mushrooms. The small business also offers a full line of specialty mushrooms and mushroom products, purchasing and distributing about 10,000 additional pounds of those products per week.

ENVIRONMENT AND ELECTRICITY
Though mushrooms don’t need light to grow, reliable electricity is extremely important for the growing cycle.

Oyster mushrooms require 60-degree temperatures and 90% humidity all year round. And once harvested, the mushrooms need to be kept at 35 degrees in refrigerators. 

Plus, unlike green plants, mushrooms break down plant matter, releasing small amounts of carbon dioxide into the air during the growing process. In nature, that carbon dioxide blows away into the breeze, but indoors, fresh air is required to displace the stale, carbon air.

To maintain a proper environment, Forest Mushrooms relies on six air conditioners to maintain proper temperature and humidity. Additionally, multiple air exchangers run six to ten times per hour to exchange the air in the fruiting rooms. (For reference, a typical industrial shop runs an air exchanger twice per day.)

In the past, Doyle would frequently need to be on-site to monitor the temperature and humidity conditions of the fruiting rooms. Today, he can monitor these technologies from his phone to ensure the mushrooms have the proper environment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

LIGHTING UPGRADE
Recently, Forest Mushrooms completed a commercial lighting retrofit, which not only led to energy efficiency for Forest Mushrooms, but saves money on their monthly power bill, too.

Through our commercial energy rebate program, Stearns Electric was able to rebate Forest Mushrooms for a portion of the retrofit project cost.

“Over the years, building by building, we have worked to upgrade our older fluorescent lighting to LEDs. LEDs don’t generate a lot of heat, which is nice, especially as we regulate the temperatures in our fruiting rooms and refrigerated areas,” Doyle said. “Though the mushrooms don’t need light, our people do. It’s nice not to have the flickering fluorescent bulbs in our workspaces.”

MUSH”BOOM”
Mushrooms have become quite popular over the last few years – including increased interest in mushroom powders, specialty mushrooms and functional mushrooms.

“Consumers across the world have had more interest in mushrooms lately, which keeps us very busy,” Doyle said. “We are experiencing a mushBOOM!”

That boom is good business, and Stearns Electric is proud to partner with Forest Mushrooms to provide the electricity and efficiencies needed to keep up with growing demand.