ASOCIACION PROFESIONAL DE PRODUCTORES DE SUSTRATOS Y HONGOS DE LA RIOJA NAVARRA Y ARAGON

Their core work

CTICH is a professional association representing mushroom and substrate producers across the La Rioja, Navarra, and Aragon regions of Spain. Unlike a university lab, they sit at the intersection of applied research and industry practice — their members are the actual growers, which gives them direct access to real production environments for testing and validating innovations. Their R&D work focuses specifically on making mushroom cultivation more sustainable: first by finding productive uses for spent mushroom substrate waste (circular economy), and then by replacing chemical fungicides and pesticide-heavy casing soils with bio-based biological alternatives. They coordinate multi-country research consortia and act as the industry voice that bridges scientific outputs with on-the-ground adoption by producers.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CTICH entered H2020 with a waste management angle — their first project (Smartmushroom, 2018) tackled the large volumes of spent substrate generated by mushroom farms and sought to turn this byproduct into a circular-economy asset. Their second project (BIOSCHAMP, 2020) shifted emphasis upstream to production inputs: replacing chemical fungicide-laced casing soils with biostimulant-based, bio-derived alternatives that leave no pesticide residues. The trajectory is clear: from "what do we do with waste at the end?" to "how do we avoid harmful inputs at the start?" — a full pivot toward clean production rather than clean-up.

CTICH is moving steadily toward pesticide-free, biologically driven mushroom production, making them a natural fit for future projects around organic certification, microbiome-based crop protection, or bio-input supply chains in specialty fungi.

How they like to work

CTICH has led every H2020 project they have participated in — a 100% coordinator rate across both projects — which signals genuine capacity to manage consortia, write deliverables, and drive project execution rather than just contribute technical tasks. Their consortia are moderate in size (averaging 8–9 partners per project across 8 countries), suggesting they prefer focused, manageable teams over large unwieldy networks. As an industry association, they are likely chosen as coordinator precisely because they provide sector legitimacy, industry contacts, and end-user access that academic partners cannot.

Across two projects, CTICH has built relationships with 15 unique partners spanning 8 countries — a broad European footprint for an organization of their size. Their network likely includes substrate technology suppliers, food safety labs, agricultural research institutes, and fellow industry associations from other EU mushroom-producing regions.

What sets them apart

CTICH occupies a rare niche: a research-active industry association that speaks for actual producers, not just scientists. This means any project they join comes with built-in access to cultivation facilities, grower adoption networks, and real-market feedback — assets that academic or technology partners cannot replicate. For consortium builders working on agri-food sustainability, bio-inputs, or circular bioeconomy, CTICH delivers both scientific credibility (REC classification, two successfully coordinated IAs) and the industry grounding needed to demonstrate real-world impact.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BIOSCHAMP
  The largest project in their portfolio (€857,280), BIOSCHAMP directly tackles pesticide residue contamination in mushrooms by replacing conventional fungicide-treated casings with biostimulant-based bio-alternatives — a commercially high-stakes problem for the entire European mushroom industry.
• Smartmushroom
  Their debut as an H2020 coordinator, Smartmushroom demonstrated that a regional producers' association could successfully lead a multi-country Innovation Action, building the track record that enabled BIOSCHAMP.