Crop Production Workers

How to become a Mushroom Grower

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 食用菌生产工

Makes spawn and growing bags and grows and harvests edible mushrooms with facilities, equipment and tools.

Main tasks

Making liquid spawn or solid mother, original and growing spawn with equipment and tools
Storing mother, original and growing spawn in cold storage
Operating mixing and steaming equipment to grind and mix growing substrate and sterilising it by steaming at normal or high pressure
Making growing bags, blocks, bottles and other media by hand or with filling and punching machines
Inoculating by machine or by hand and sending substrate for incubation
Controlling temperature, humidity, light and oxygen in growing rooms with automatic or manual systems to bring on fruiting
Adjusting substrate moisture and applying treatments with spray and injection equipment
Picking mushrooms by machine or by hand
Keeping fresh, drying and processing produce by machine or by hand
Building growing rooms and maintaining growing and processing equipment

Ways in

Vocational majors: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Agricultural Biotechnology (470103). Vocational major 470103 Agricultural Biotechnology (农业生物技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Edible Fungi Production and Processing Technology (410111). Vocational major 410111 Edible Fungi Production and Processing Technology (食用菌生产与加工技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Green Food Production Technology (410115). Vocational major 410115 Green Food Production Technology (绿色食品生产技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Family Farm Grain Production and Business; Food Inspection Management; Agricultural Products E-commerce Operations.; Secondary vocational school (中职) major: Protected Agriculture Production Technology (610112). Vocational major 610112 Protected Agriculture Production Technology (设施农业生产技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Protected Vegetable Production; Family Farm Grain Production and Business; Grain and Agricultural Food Safety Assessment.

Pay · AI and this job

Median pay in China: CN¥41,000 a year (2025).
Middle half: CN¥31,500 to CN¥53,600. One in ten earn less than CN¥26,000 and one in ten more than CN¥71,300.
This is the figure for the mid group Agricultural Production Workers, not for this job alone.
National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

The census group Agricultural Production Workers holds 18.04% of everyone employed in China; 47.5% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
12.8% are under 35, 42.1% are 35 to 54 and 45.1% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 50 to 54.
Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

Questions people ask

How do I become a Mushroom Grower?

Ways in include: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Agricultural Biotechnology (470103); Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Edible Fungi Production and Processing Technology (410111).

How much does a Mushroom Grower earn in China?

Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥41,000 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Agricultural Production Workers.

Will AI change the work of a Mushroom Grower?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 5 October 2026