BILL Littleson has heard the old cliche about growing mushrooms one too many times.

"They do get manure, but it's not from bulls - at our farm it's from chickens - and while they're grown in environment and temperature-controlled rooms, we do work with the lights on," he says.

"People think they're easy to grow but they can be very fiddly, particularly getting the composting right. The temperature has to be within 0.1 per cent of a degree to get the best results ... depending on the growth period between 17 and 21C."

Bill farms 10 tonnes of mushrooms from his Diggers Rest farm each week, while his 161ha farm at Newbridge, near Bendigo, produces compost for his growers around Australia, which in total farm 100 tonnes of the fungus.

Together with many of these growers, as well as his business partner, Bill will be taking part in Mushroom Mania this month, an industry event to celebrate the humble mushroom that will see more than 1800 restaurants, cafs, pubs and clubs hold events, talks and dinners around Australia.

Now in its eighth year, Mushroom Mania in Victoria will see a cooking show and mushroom education day at the Yarra Valley Farmer's Market on July 18.

On July 21, the Lilydale TAFE will create a degustation mushroom menu, while events will also be held as far afield as Mildura.

According to the industry, although mushrooms are generally thought to have little nutritional value, one serve (100g) provides more than 20 per cent of daily copper and selenium needs, as well as B vitamins.

Bill says the best way to eat a button mushroom is stuffed with marscapone, a small piece of fig and a small slice of prosciutto.

"Then cook it slowly on the barbecue. It's beautiful."