About 500,000 bottles of mushroom spawn will be produced annually by 2020 along with 2.5 million compost "sticks" with a value of 12.5 million yuan.

The fermentation station is equipped with a monitoring system made in the Netherlands, which accurately adjusts the temperature, moisture and oxygen to produce 30,000 tons of compost annually.

"The quality of the compost is crucial for the mushrooms," Feng Jianwei, chief production director at Ifull Agriculture, said.

"That is why we use the world's most advanced technology at the very beginning of our industrial chain.

"Unlike conventional agriculture, cultivating mushrooms in greenhouses is not restricted by the weather," Feng added. "Farmers can have more than one harvest season in a year, depending on which kind of mushrooms they plant."

According to the county government's agricultural office, mushroom farming provides an annual income of between 20,000 to 30,000 yuan for farmers.

Additionally, there is a secondary market for the residue from mushroom production.

"The residue from 60,000 tons of mushroom can be transformed into 50,000 tons of organic fodder for cows and sheep, or 50,000 tons of organic fertilizer," Zhang Kuimin, agricultural office director for Shandan's county government, said.