Not just the Formosan Salamanders, even the mushrooms are struggling in the heat of summer.

In Taichung county's Sinshe Township, where mushrooms are mass produced, the production rate has dropped by 40 to 50 percent.

Therefore, mushroom prices have nearly doubled from 350 NT dollars per kilogram last year, to 600 NT dollars, setting a record high in ten years.

Farmers race against the heat as they salvage their freshly picked mushrooms.

Although it appears to be a fruitful harvest, the farmers remain grim because mushrooms struggle to grow in the unbearably high temperatures.

By looking at the mushrooms, its easy to see that one end of it is a lush batch of mycelium.

But the other end is blackened and unhealthy - the result of the mushrooms inability to withstand the summer heat.

The same situation appears on almost every mushroom stalk.

And the result is a production drop of 40-50% and nearly a doubling in the price from NT$350 per kilogram last year.

The steep price has put off potential consumers so farmers aren't earning any profits.

Besides ordinary mushrooms, button mushroom prices have also gone up. Last year,

every kilogram sold at a price of NT$500-700.

Recently it has risen up to NT$710.

Even king oyster mushroom prices have gone up from NT$60 per kilogram to NT$80-100.

The soaring prices of all the mushrooms have turned away many consumers.

Mushroom farmers are resorting to manually water the mushrooms to cool down the temperatures and are salvaging as many mushrooms as they can.

Lets hope the Bureau of Agriculture will step in and find a way to help the farmers.

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