Mycoterra Farm Founder Julia Coffey Scales Basement Mushroom Hobby Into 1,000-Pound Weekly Operation

WESTHAMPTON, Mass. — Julia Coffey launched an agricultural enterprise out of a dark clothes closet.

She had returned to her hometown of Westhampton, Massachusetts, in 2009 after spending four years working on commercial mycologist Paul Stamets' farm in Washington state. Fulfilling work was scarce. So, in January 2010, Coffey set up a modest mushroom-growing experiment inside her rented home's basement closet. She treated the initial crop as a quiet hobby business. But demand exploded.

Local food cooperatives and farmers markets snapped up her harvests immediately. Coffey plowed every dollar of early revenue—supplemented by income from outside jobs—straight back into specialized cultivation equipment. Capital was tight. Commercial mycological gear carried steep price tags, forcing a disciplined, phased buildout rather than rapid speculative borrowing. In December 2012, Coffey bought the rented house, clearing the path to expand her laboratory footprint across the basement floor and into the adjacent garage.

From Basement Closet to Commercial Greenhouses

Physical space ran out fast. In autumn 2013, Coffey's partner, Chris, joined the venture to accelerate infrastructure upgrades and manage rising market requests.

The farm executed its first major capital expansion in January 2015. Coffey installed an insulated shipping container converted into a walk-in cooler, alongside two 24-by-48-foot commercial greenhouses. Radiant floor heating and industrial insulation allowed the structures to maintain precise fruiting temperatures through harsh New England winters. Output surged. Yet even with new indoor square footage, Mycoterra Farm slammed into production ceilings within months.

Coffey added three full-time employees in 2015, while bringing on a family member who had previously managed market stalls. To squeeze every square foot out of the footprint, the crew erected vertical pallet racking that ran from the greenhouse gravel beds straight to the ceilings. Output climbed to roughly 500 pounds of mushrooms every week. The harvests sold out instantly. Wholesale orders from restaurants and grocery distributors continued to outstrip what the Westhampton site could fruit.

The South Deerfield Equestrian Centre Conversion

A chance delivery run cracked the bottleneck. Around New Year, while dropping off fresh mushrooms at a regional restaurant, Coffey and her partner spotted an empty commercial property that previously housed an equestrian riding arena.

Negotiations took months. Financing hurdles stalled the transaction through the spring, but Coffey finalized the real estate purchase in August 2016. Converting an indoor horse arena into a sterile, climate-controlled mycological growing facility required an extensive overhaul of ventilation, plumbing, and electrical grids. Mycoterra Farm officially packed up its Westhampton site and moved full operations to the South Deerfield property in December 2017.

Market Context: Indoor specialty mushroom cultivation offers an intensive alternative to traditional acreage-based farming, requiring minimal horizontal land while commanding premium prices at farm-to-table restaurants and regional retail co-ops. Baseline home hobby kits retail for around $20 and yield several flushes over two weeks, but scaling beyond 100 pounds requires commercial humidity chambers, automated airflow, and walk-in cold storage chains.

Wm. Mycoterra Farm now operates its year-round wholesale logistics from the South Deerfield facility, funneling bulk gourmet varieties into supermarket distributors, farmers markets, and regional restaurant kitchens across western Massachusetts.