Paul Staments wants to make the world better, and he wants to do it with mushrooms. No, not the ones that college students pick off of cow pies and add to pizzas and kool aid. Staments, has been researching and creating products with fungus and some of the results have been absolutely amazing. One amazing example is the use of particular fungus as a natural pesticide. In this instance, he reported that, “after insects eat the fungi, they “become mummified” and a “mushroom pops out of their head.”
Using nature like this can prove problematic for companies like Monsanto, who make billions of dollars selling highly controversial chemical pesticides to the agriculture industry. To prevent them from taking over this segment of the market, Staments has taken out a patent that covers over 200,000 species of Fungi. His hopes only start with changing the way we protect our crops. Other products he’s discovered in various fungi include all-natural insect repellents and a fungus based, natural fertilizer.