Afterlife Ag provides a circular solution for food establishments by collecting and processing food scraps and transforming them into culinary and adaptogenic mushrooms like enoki and lion’s mane, which are then sold back to restaurants. Currently, 95% of organic waste still goes into landfills, this model not only helps food establishments comply with composting regulations but also supports a closed-loop system. Over the past 3.5 years of development, Afterlife Ag has been able to grow 1 lb of mushroom with every 1 lb of food waste upcycled, making it a highly biologically efficient process. With a 100% net customer retention rate, Afterlife Ag can produce 300 lbs. of mushrooms weekly in just 100 sq. ft., enabling scalable growth while delivering fresh, local, and sustainable produce in just 4 to 6 weeks.
The grant has helped us expand into our new space in Queens, New York, and grow more mushrooms using food waste to get to 1,000 lbs a week. We were able to purchase new equipment that improved our fruiting environment and improve our yields