Market Analysis of Characteristic Agricultural Products from the Perspective of Multi-Source Data: A Case Study of Wild Edible Mushrooms

Abstract

Wild edible mushrooms are a characteristic product in Yunnan, but no quantitative evaluation system yet exists for them. This study puts forward a sustainable development potential index of characteristic agricultural products (SDPI) based on various methods. It also performs a correlation analysis of multi-source points of interest (POI) and online shopping data related to wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan from a quantitative point of view, to understand the economics of wild edible mushrooms and to explore the sustainable development potential of such mushrooms in Yunnan from the perspectives of the tourism and sales markets. The results show that Dêqên Tibetan and the central region dominated by Kunming dominate both the tourism and sales markets and have a high SDPI. In contrast, the current situation and development prospects of the wild edible mushroom market in cities such as Lincang and Nujiang Lisu are poor. Yunnan Province has a large wild edible mushroom market and a promising development prospect. This paper provides comprehensive reference information for the development of Yunnan wild edible mushroom production economics.

1. Introduction

The increase in consumer awareness of health preservation, together with the aggravation of environmental pollution, is leading to more attention being paid to characteristic agricultural products, wild edible mushrooms being one of these. Such mushrooms are prized by people worldwide [1] because of their special requirements in terms of growing environment and their rich nutritional benefits [2,3]. Mushrooms were planted in China for over a thousand years [4]. The mountain topography, diversified virgin forests, unique natural climate, and human environment in Yunnan Province give rise to abundant wild edible mushroom resources. Unlike other agricultural activities, wild edible mushroom agriculture does not directly destroy forest resources, so it is considered a sustainable production mode. Wild mushrooms are natural treasures in forest resources [5]. By developing a wild edible mushroom industry, the pressure on natural resources can be relieved, the sustainable utilization of natural resources can be realized [6], forest health can be restored, and the sustainable income of poor rural areas can be increased [7]. As wild edible mushrooms belong to wild collection commodities, of which there are many types, the traditional sales models are mainly outside the usual sales channels. About 30% to 40% of Yunnan wild edible mushrooms are resold, or sold at a terminal, in surrounding areas, such as Sichuan etc.; so far, there were no complete or accurate output or output value statistics [8]. Moreover, it is difficult to estimate the development of wild edible mushroom ecological production.

Various studies on wild edible mushrooms were widely conducted worldwide. These mushrooms are rich in substances and elements, and have high functionality and medicinal value [9,10,11]. Related research shows that the types of volatile and non-volatile chemical compounds have a close relationship with different consumer preferences for wild edible mushrooms [12]. Based on the love of such mushrooms and a change in consumption habits, the international trade quota of wild mushrooms in the world greatly increased [13]. Wild edible mushrooms cannot only satisfy consumer pursuit of food, but also, to some extent, solve food problems [14]. Improving habitat management and changing forest management methods through interdisciplinary methods can appropriately increase the yield of wild edible mushrooms [15,16]. In addition, the development of the wild edible mushroom industry plays an important role in accelerating the development of local green agriculture, optimizing and adjusting the agricultural structure, and increasing farmer income [17]. Since the beginning of the 21st century, certain villages in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province established an export business in high-quality Tricholoma matsutake [18]. Analyzing and identifying the factors that restrict the development of the wild edible mushroom industry, and solving the problems of improper collection and management, play a significant role in optimizing the industrial structure, creating marketing channels, shaping own brands, and increasing farmer income. In order to avoid poisonous wild mushrooms, researchers used Xception migration studies to preliminarily identify whether the picked wild mushrooms were edible or not [19], thereby solving the edibility problem of wild fungi.

To sum up, wild mushrooms are rich in nutritional value and have the potential to contribute to solving the food problem, thereby attracting increasing attention. Consumption perceptions are changing; furthermore, the wild mushroom industry also plays an important role in driving local consumption. However, research on wild edible mushrooms mainly focuses on the components, growth environment, and medicinal value of wild edible mushrooms. Because the overall sales data for these mushrooms are difficult to count accurately, there is little research on their market sales and distribution characteristics; moreover, there is no quantitative index to evaluate the regional development potential of the wild edible mushroom market. POI data of restaurants and place names can reflect tourism information, and online shopping transaction data can reflect sales information. In order to clarify the sustainable development of the Yunnan wild edible mushroom market, based on multi-source data such as POI, online shopping transaction data, and road network data, this paper proposes a sustainable development potential index for characteristic agricultural products. It also realizes the sustainable analysis of characteristic agricultural products from the perspective of economics and geography. The wild edible mushrooms in online shopping data come from the mushrooms collected in the wild by farmers and merchants in Yunnan, and are not commercially produced edible mushrooms. This paper holds that the sustainable development potential of characteristic agricultural products can be quantitatively calculated by using suitable data. This paper comprehensively explores the economics characteristics of wild edible mushroom production; it also explores the development potential of the Yunnan wild edible mushroom tourism and sales markets from the geographical perspective, by calculating the sustainable development potential index and performing a quantitative evaluation. This research on the wild edible mushroom production economics in the cities inYunnan Province, China, shows that the central and western regions of Yunnan are developing well, among which the central region of Yunnan is the strongest. At the same time, this paper also forwards constructive suggestions for the sustainable development of wild edible mushroom production economics.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 briefly reviews the literature related to diet and tourism under sustainable development. Section 3 introduces the data and methods used in the research. Section 4 shows the research results of this paper. Section 5 discusses the results obtained. Section 6 draws the conclusion and provides relevant suggestions for follow-up research.

2. Literature Review

Most research into the wild edible mushroom industry focuses on the macro perspective. Several problems exist in the export of wild mushrooms, such as low added value of products, few target markets, inconsistent standards, and strict trade barriers. It is necessary to build leading enterprises, explore new markets, and establish unified standards [20,21,22]. In addition, because wild edible mushrooms are not easy to preserve, it is necessary to have effective fresh-keeping measures in their picking, purchasing, and transportation [23]. Moreover, China consumers have a strong consumer interest in wild edible mushrooms. Taking Yunnan as an example, according to the results of a sampling survey, it is estimated that the annual trade volume of wild edible mushrooms is 150,000–200,000 tons [24]. Every wild mushroom harvest season, restaurants and farmers’ markets everywhere are replete with a wide variety of wild mushroom dishes. In the peak season, the daily supply of wild mushrooms in Kunming alone reaches 300 to 500 tons [25].

Against a background of the consistent global promotion of sustainable development, tourism, road network conditions, and other factors, are also closely involved. Sustainable tourism is an important aspect of sustainable development goals [26,27], especially after the COVID-19 pandemic; it also plays a crucial role in guiding the recovery of tourism in various places [28]. Research shows that tourism is an important aspect of rural sustainable development [29], and does not only improve the quality of life of local residents [30], but also strengthens cultural exchange [31]. The special food in rural areas is attractive to tourists [32], and the culture related to local characteristics is also a focus of rural tourism [33]. Therefore, factors such as restaurants and place-name culture related to characteristic agricultural products can also be used as components of SDPI analysis. In addition, road network conditions play a significant role in sustainable development [34], and good road construction conditions can promote sustainable economic growth in local areas [35]. Road network conditions are an important link in the sustainable supply chain, and can help realize the sustainable development of the agricultural product supply chain [36].

Overall, wild edible mushrooms, as a characteristic agricultural product, have the functions of driving local resident production and promoting sustainable consumption, etc. However, at present, the market analysis related to such mushrooms mainly focuses on the macro perspective, and there is little quantitative micro analysis. In this paper, combining the market sales of wild edible mushrooms with tourism resources, food resources, and road network conditions, and with wild mushroom characteristics, we can produce a better SDPI evaluation SDPI and perform a quantitative analysis of the sustainable development potential of regional characteristic agricultural products.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Overview of the Study Area

As shown in Figure 1, Yunnan Province is located at 21°8′~29°15′ N, 97°31′~106°11′ E, in the southwest border area of China, with abundant vegetation types, including tropical rain forest, tropical monsoon forest, evergreen broad-leaved forest, coniferous forest, etc. [37,38]; in summer and autumn, its climate is wet and mild [39]. Continuous mountains, diversified virgin forests, a unique natural climate, and human environment give rise to abundant wild edible mushroom resources [40]. According to statistics, there are as many as 882 species of wild edible mushroom in Yunnan, accounting for 45% of the world total (2166 species) and 91% of the total in China (978 species) [8]. Yunnan Province is one of the main producing areas of wild edible mushrooms. Analysis of the market behavior of these mushrooms in Yunnan Province provides general identification of the development status and potential of its wild edible mushroom trade and tourism markets.

3.2. Data Sources

3.2.1. Data of Place Names in Yunnan Province

Place name data were collected by the Second National Place Name Information survey of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (https://dmfw.mca.gov.cn/online/map.html), accessed on 1 June 2021, with place names being expressed in the form of point data. Each point datum includes attributes such as standard name, place type, place origin, place meaning, place history, longitude, latitude, etc.

3.2.2. Restaurant Data for Yunnan Province

Yunnan restaurant data were collected using Gaode Maps (https://www.amap.com/), accessed on 1 June 2021, with restaurants being represented by point data. Each point datum includes attributes such as restaurant name, restaurant type, longitude, and latitude.

3.2.3. Online Shopping Data

Online shopping information was collected using Taobao (https://www.taobao.com/), accessed on 1 June 2021, an online shopping platform in China, from August to September 2021, the peak season for sales of wild edible mushrooms. Taobao is a popular channel for Chinese netizens to shop online. A keyword search using “wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan” produced all product-related information, including product name, price, place of delivery, sales volume, etc.

3.2.4. Road Network Data

The road network data used in this study came from BIGEMAP (http://www.bigemap.com/), accessed on 1 June 2021. Routes were the main roads used for logistics transportation, including expressways, national highways, and provincial highways, expressed in the form of line data.

3.3. Methodology

As shown in Figure 2, this study analyzes and discusses the wild edible mushroom market in Yunnan Province from the perspectives of spatial and marketing analyses. Firstly, the place-name POI and restaurant POI were clustered according to semantic content, and the mushroom place-name POIs and mushroom restaurant POI were extracted, respectively. Point density analysis was performed on the mushroom place-name POI and mushroom restaurant POI, respectively, and the spatial distribution of POI was analyzed by calculating the coefficient of variation and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Secondly, the road network density was generated according to the road network data. Thirdly, statistical analysis of online shopping data was conducted to obtain information about merchandise sales, the regional characteristics of the merchandise, and the merchandise production and sales matrix. Finally, based on the results of the spatial and sales analyses, this paper proposes an SDPI, and calculates and analyzes the sustainable development potential of the wild edible mushroom market in Yunnan Province from a quantitative point of view.

3.3.1. POI Semantic Clustering

The POI data collected from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Gaode Maps were not directly related to “wild edible mushrooms”, so it was necessary to cluster the POIand extract POI related to “wild edible mushrooms”. In the POI, place name represents the common name of the place, place origin represents the origin of the place, place history represents the history of the place, and place meaning represents the meaning of the place. These four attributes can be used to analyze whether they are related to wild edible mushrooms. In the restaurant POI in Gaode Maps, the coded number indicates the POI category. In this paper, the keyword-matching method was used [41]. The keyword list was “wild edible mushrooms” and the main specific wild edible mushroom names, such as boletus, Tricholoma matsutake, etc., were matched, respectively, with the place name, place origin, place meaning, place history, and the names of the Chinese restaurants (code: 50XXX) in the POI of the Gaode map. As shown in

Table 1. Examples of mushroom place-name POI.

Standard Name	Place Type	Place Origin	Place Meaning	Place History	Longitude	Latitude
Maoshike	Mountain	Named for plants.	Naxi language, “Mao” refers to fungus, “shi” refers to yellow, and “Ke” refers to a place. Therefore, there are many fungi in the mountains, so it is called this name.	The name of this place was used since its naming.	100.2588	27.485
Emugu	Mountain	Named after the geographical environment.	“Emugu” Yi branch Xiangtan language; E: mountain, mugu: fragrant mushroom, fragrant mushrooms grow on this mountain.	The name was used ever since the place was named.	100.4555	26.736

and

Table 2. Examples of mushroom restaurant POI.

Parent Name	City Name	Type	Type Code	Administrative Name	Name	Longitude	Latitude
Yunnan	Kunming	Catering service; Chinese restaurant; hot pot restaurant	50117	Xishan District	Hongyuan wild edible mushroom hot pot	102.6645	25.0044

, the place-name POI related to “wild edible mushrooms” (mushroom place-name POI) and the restaurant POI related to “wild edible mushrooms” (mushroom restaurant POI) were selected.

3.3.2. Point Density Analysis

Point density analysis was used to calculate the density of point elements in each statistical unit [42]. As shown in Equation (1), in this paper, the number of mushroom place-name POI and mushroom restaurant POI in the statistical unit were divided by the area of the statistical unit to obtain the corresponding point density and the spatial distribution characteristics of the two types of POI.

$$P_d=Count/Area$$

(1)

where $P_d$ represents the point density, $Count$ indicates the number of points in the statistical unit, and $Area$ represents the area of the statistical unit.

3.3.3. Pearson Correlation Coefficient

The Pearson correlation coefficient is a linear correlation coefficient, denoted as r, which reflects the linear correlation degree of two variables, X and Y (Equation (2)) [43].

$$r=\frac{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n\left(X_i-\overline{X}\right)\left(Y_i-\overline{Y}\right)}{\sqrt{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n{\left(X_i-\overline{X}\right)}^2}\sqrt{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n{\left(Y_i-\overline{Y}\right)}^2}}$$

(2)

r is between −1 and 1, and the larger the absolute value, the stronger the correlation.

When r > 0, it indicates that two variables are positively correlated; that is, the larger the value of one variable, the larger the value of the other variable.

When r < 0, it indicates that two variables are negatively correlated; that is, the larger the value of one variable, the smaller the value of the other variable.

When r = 0, it indicates that the two variables are not linearly related;

When r = 1 and −1, it means that X and Y can be expressed by linear equations.

The Pearson correlation coefficient reflects the correlation of the distribution of different geographical elements [44]. In this paper, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to calculate the correlation between the distribution number of mushroom place-name POI and the mushroom restaurant POI, which were counted by city, and the relationship between the two elements.

3.3.4. Coefficient of Variation

The coefficient of variation, also known as the “dispersion coefficient”, is a normalized measure of the degree of dispersion of probability distribution, which is defined as the ratio of standard deviation to the average (Equation (3)) [45]:

$$c_v=\sigma /\mu$$

(3)

where $c_v$ represents the coefficient of variation, $\sigma$ represents the standard deviation, and $\mu$ represents the average value.

This paper analyzes the distribution characteristics of mushroom place names and restaurants by calculating and comparing the coefficient of variation in the distribution of two types of POI on the scale of city and county.

3.3.5. Merchandise Production and Sales Matrix

In the data collected in the online shopping platform, some commodities were not sold in the place of production but in other places by merchants after unified acquisition in the place of production. These goods often indicated the origin of the goods within their trade name, such as “Shangri-La wild Tricholoma matsutake fresh Yunnan wild edible mushroom Songsong 500 g” and so on. In this paper, Python was used to identify the trade-name regional names, extract the products from different places of production and sales, and generate each city’s production and sales matrix. The pseudo-code was as follows:

for item in merchandiseName:

 for place in place_list:

   if place in item:

     item.productionPlace = place

     break

3.3.6. SDPI

Polasky pointed out that economics played an inadequate role in the research of sustainable development, and most of the existing studies were conducted from the perspective of natural science [46]. Among the 17 evaluation criteria for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the level of agricultural development, sustainable development of production, and consumption are important components [47]. However, the quantitative criteria in different regions do not form a unified quantitative system because the importance of the three basic pillars of economy, society, and environment differ across regions [48]. Studies showed that improvements in the efficiency and quality of logistics services led to a decrease in carbon emissions and energy consumption, and an increase in the level of sustainable development in the economy [49,50]. POI density can be used to evaluate the degree of sustainable development, with different types of POI density having different impacts on sustainable development; for example, economic POI density will have a relatively large weight [51]. Moreover, the level of the green economy also plays an important role in the realization of SDGs [52].

From the angle of combining economics with geography, this paper proposes an SDPI to quantitatively calculate the sustainable development potential of characteristic agricultural products. The related place-name POI and restaurant POI represent the tourism market for characteristic agricultural products (POI density); online shopping sales mean the sales market for characteristic agricultural products (green economy level), and the road network density is directly related to the logistics service quality. Based on the above concept, this paper combines the relevant data of characteristic agricultural products, introduces the natural logarithmic scale in the calculation of the Human Development Index [53], and proposes a sustainable development potential index of characteristic agricultural products (Equation (4)) to comprehensively analyze and calculate the tourism market, sales market, and road network conditions. In this paper, the region where Yunnan Province is located was divided into 20 km grids. The grids at the boundary of cities and prefectures were divided according to the regional boundaries. Equation (4) was then used to quantitatively calculate the sustainable development potential of the wild edible mushroom market for each grid unit, and the SDPI was calculated on the grid-scale.

$$P_i=\ln \left[\sqrt{S_i+1}\times \left(N_{di}+N_{pi}+0.1\right)\right]+\frac{L_i}{A_i}$$

(4)

where $P_i$ represents the sustainable development potential index of characteristic agricultural products in statistical units i, which is the sustainable development potential index of the wild edible mushroom market in this paper; $N_{di}$ represents POI related to characteristic agricultural products in statistical units i, which is the number of mushroom restaurant POI in this paper; $N_{pi}$ represents the number of POI-related place names of characteristic agricultural products in statistical units i, which is the number of mushroom place-name POI in this paper; $S_i$ represents the sales of characteristic agricultural products in statistical units p, which is Taobao sales in this paper; $L_i$ represents the road network length (km) of statistical units i; and $A_i$ represents the area of statistical units i (km²).

4. Results

4.1. Spatial Analysis

4.1.1. The Spatial Distribution of Mushroom POI

As shown in Figure 3a, the critical areas of mushroom place-name POI distribution are concentrated in the central and northwest areas of Yunnan, with Kunming, Chuxiong Yi, Dali Bai, Baoshan, Lijiang, and Dêqên Tibetan as the main areas; there are fewer critical areas in other cities. In terms of the critical areas, the Dêqên Tibetan mushroom place-name POI are mainly distributed in the northeast of the state; the Lijiang mushroom place-name POI are distributed primarily in the central and western regions of the city; Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, and Baoshan mushroom place-name POI are evenly distributed in these cities, and the Kunming mushroom place-name POI are mainly distributed in the southern half of the city.

As shown in Figure 3b, mushroom restaurant POI are mainly distributed in the central part of Yunnan, mainly in Kunming, Chuxiong Yi, and Dali Bai, with a higher distribution in Honghe Hani and Yi, Baoshan, and Qujing, and a lower distribution in other cities. Of the cities with a higher level of distribution, the mushroom restaurant POI in Chuxiong Yi, Dali Bai, Honghe Hani and Yi, and Baoshan are evenly distributed; the POI of Kunming mushroom restaurants are mainly distributed in the southern half of the city; and the POI of Qujing mushroom restaurants are distributed primarily in the western part of the city.

4.1.2. Spatial Correlation between Mushroom Place-Name and Restaurant POI

After calculating the coefficient of variation and Pearson correlation coefficient between mushroom place-name POI and mushroom restaurant POI (

Table 3. Correlation analysis of POI distribution.

	Mushroom Restaurant	Mushroom Place Name
Standard deviation	36.45626	8.815602
Average value	27.0625	12.6875
Coefficient of variation	1.347113	0.694826
Pearson correlation coefficient	0.7382

), we can see that the variation coefficient of place-name POI is 0.69 and the variation coefficient of mushroom restaurant POI is 1.38; the variation coefficient of mushroom restaurant POIs is, therefore, larger than that of mushroom place-name POI. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the number of mushroom place-name POI and mushroom restaurant POI in various cities is 0.74, which indicates that there is a positive correlation and strong correlation between the number of mushroom place-name POI and mushroom restaurant POI in various cities in Yunnan Province.

4.2. Marketing Analysis

4.2.1. Overall Market Situation in Cities

After classifying and analyzing POI data and sales information for online shopping products, we obtained

Table 4. Comprehensive statistics of commodities and POI in various cities in Yunnan Province.

City	Category	Merchandise Trading Volume	Sales	Mushroom Restaurant POI	Mushroom Place-Name POI
Honghe Hani and Yi	3	71	4072	25	6
Lincang	13	79	6626	3	12
Xishuangbanna Dai	5	144	13,191	14	14
Dehong Dai and Jingpo	7	275	15,650	4	2
Dêqên Tibetan	76	6021	1,089,898	1	7
Dali Bai	18	708	91,093	33	26
Pu’er	69	1661	388,980	9	11
Baoshan	34	743	85,395	15	13
Lijiang	43	1778	139,828	25	11
Yuxi	56	769	70,557	40	13
Kunming	2866	316,515	20,866,122	141	24
Chuxiong Yi	172	2384	414,534	91	36
Zhaotong	2	10	2190	8	3
Qujing	132	4191	730,117	13	10
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao	20	2421	40,929	11	12
Nujiang Lisu				0	3

. It shows that, among the 16 cities in Yunnan, online shopping products in Kunming number the highest at 2866, and this city has the highest trading volume and sales, at 316,515 and 2,086,122, respectively. In terms of mushroom restaurant POI statistics, Kunming also ranks first, with 141 mushroom restaurants. For mushroom place-name POI, Chuxiong Yi ranks first, with 36 mushroom-related place names. However, the number of mushroom restaurant POI and mushroom place-name POI in Nujiang Lisu is small, and there is no relevant product information about online shopping data.

4.2.2. Merchandise Distribution Characteristics

Using the natural breakpoint method, the sales of wild edible mushrooms were divided into three levels. As shown in Figure 4, Dêqên Tibetan in northwest Yunnan and Kunming in central Yunnan have obvious advantages in merchandise sales compared with other regions. According to the data in Table 4, Kunming sold the highest number of categories—2866—while Chuxiong and Qujing only sold 172 and 132 categories, respectively, ranking second and third. Regarding merchandise trading volume, that of Kunming was 316,515, ranking first; that of Dêqên Tibetan was 6021, ranking second; and that of Qujing was 4191, ranking third. In terms of sales, Kunming ranked first with sales of 20 million, Dêqên Tibetan ranked second with sales of 10 million, and Qujing ranked third with sales of 7.3 million.

4.2.3. Regional Characteristics of Commodity Sales

As shown in

Table 5. Quantity of mushroom commodities in various cities in Yunnan Province.

City	Boletus	Chanterelle	Russula Virescens	Black Tiger Palm	Thelephora Ganbajun Zang	Morel	Tricholoma Matsutake	Collybia Albuminosa	The Old Man Head Bacteria
Lincang	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	0
Lijiang	11	0	0	0	0	3	15	8	0
Baoshan	3	0	2	0	1	3	0	5	0
Dali Bai	3	0	1	1	0	4	6	4	0
Dehong Dai and Jingpo	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao	2	1	0	0	0	14	0	0	0
Kunming	535	148	18	22	80	741	377	484	16
Zhaotong	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pu’er	9	0	2	0	2	2	1	13	0
Qujing	61	5	52	0	4	11	42	46	0
Chuxiong Yi	75	2	10	0	5	1	7	19	47
Yuxi	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	50	0
Honghe Hani and Yi	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Xishuangbanna Dai	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Dêqên Tibetan	2	1	0	0	0	4	28	6	0

, the nine most well-known mushrooms in Yunnan Province were used as statistical indicators, and their corresponding commodity numbers in various cities were counted. According to the above-mentioned statistical information on commodity category and sales, Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi, and Dêqên Tibetan were taken as examples for analysis. Mushrooms sold in Kunming include Boletus, Tricholoma matsutake, Thelephora ganbajun Zang, Morel, and Collybia albuminosa, of which Morel numbered the most at 741. There were also a large number of Boletus, Tricholoma matsutake, and Collybia albuminosa at 535, 377, and 484, respectively; in contrast, Chanterelle only numbered 148. Wild edible mushrooms sold in Qujing include Boletus, Russula virescens, Tricholoma matsutake, and Collybia albuminosa; of these, Boletus numbered the most at 61, while Russula virescens, Tricholoma matsutake, and Collybia albuminosa numbered 52, 46, and 46, respectively. Of the wild edible mushrooms sold in Chuxiong Yi, Boletus and the Old Man Head Bacteria numbered 75 and 47, respectively. The wild edible mushrooms sold in Dêqên Tibetan are mainly Tricholoma matsutake, accounting for 28.

In addition, the sales of several mushrooms have apparent regional characteristics, such as Chanterelle, Black Tiger Palm, Thelephora ganbajun Zang, Morel sold in Kunming, Russula virescens sold in Qujing, and the Old Man Head Bacteria sold in Chuxiong Yi, etc.; these are rarely sold in other cities.

4.2.4. Merchandise Production and Sales Matrix

The merchandise production and sales matrix was obtained by classifying and analyzing the origin information of online shopping products.

Table 6. Merchandise production and sales matrix for various cities in Yunnan Province (after eliminating).

	Dali Bai	Chuxiong Yi	Qujing	Kunming
Yuxi	0	0	0	2
Dali Bai		0	0	13
Chuxiong Yi	0		0	17
Lijiang	1	0	1	9
Kunming	0	1	0
Dehong Dai and Jingpo	0	0	0	1
Pu’er	0	0	0	50
Dêqên Tibetan	0	0	0	4

shows the filtered matrix after eliminating the whole row; the whole column are 0 values. According to the data, Yuxi, Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Lijiang, Kunming, Dehong Dai and Jingpo, Pu’er, and Dêqên Tibetan all sell products abroad, numbering 2, 13, 17, 11, 1, 1, 50 and 4, respectively, of which Pu’er sells the largest number of products abroad. Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Qujing, and Kunming sell wild edible mushrooms in other places, and number 1, 1, 1 and 96, respectively. Other cities do not sell other cities’ commodities or sell their own commodities to other cities.

4.3. Sustainable Development Potential of Wild Edible Mushroom Market

The POI data representing the wild edible mushroom tourism market, the online shopping data representing the wild edible mushroom sales market, and the road network data related to wild edible mushroom transportation were comprehensively analyzed on the 20 km grid scale to generate the distribution map of the sustainable development potential of the wild edible mushroom market in Yunnan Province (Figure 5). As shown in Figure 5, the sustainable development potential of this market in Yunnan Province is characterized as being high in the central area and low in the surrounding areas. In addition, the sustainable development potential index of the northwest part of the surrounding areas is also clearly high. Furthermore, there are areas with a negative index in some areas where the wild edible mushroom market in the western part of Yunnan Province is poorly developed.

5. Discussion

5.1. Distribution Characteristics of Mushroom POI

The coefficient of variation of mushroom place-name POI is 0.69, the POI being mainly distributed in central and western Yunnan; the coefficient of variation of mushroom restaurant POI is 1.35, the POI mainly being distributed in central Yunnan. From the data point of view, the distribution of the mushroom restaurant POI is more dispersed than that of the mushroom place-name POI, but the Pearson correlation coefficient between them is 0.74, and their overall distribution is similar. As shown in Figure 6, the distribution shows that Yunnan’s central and western regions, represented by Kunming, Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Dêqên Tibetan, and Lijiang, have a long mushroom history and culture. Compared with other regions, the mushroom catering industry in Kunming, Chuxiong Yi, and Dali Bai are more developed. Place names can represent a regional tourism market’s historical and cultural potential, and the number of mushroom restaurants can represent the status quo of special catering in the regional tourism market. Both the central and western regions of Yunnan have an excellent mushroom cultural heritage but, at present, the development of the special catering tourism market in the central part of Yunnan is clearly better than that in the western part. In addition, three mushroom place-name POI were found in Nujiang Lisu, but there is no mushroom restaurant POI, which is also related to the lower economic level of the state. Although Nujiang Lisu has a certain historical background in mushroom culture, under its relatively backward economic conditions, the state did not focus on developing the tourism economy related to wild edible mushrooms.

5.2. Sales Characteristics of Wild Edible Mushroom in Yunnan

It can be seen from the online shopping transaction data that the main sales places of mushrooms are Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi, and Dêqên Tibetan. Kunming, Qujing, and Chuxiong Yi are adjacent, all being located in central Yunnan; Dêqên Tibetan is located in northwest Yunnan. The category, merchandise trading volume, and sales volume of wild edible mushrooms in Kunming are the highest because Kunming is Yunnan’s capital and logistics center. Not only are there many wild edible mushrooms growing in this city, but also, because of its convenient transportation, many are transported to Kunming for centralized sales from other places. All kinds of factors lead to the most thriving wild edible mushroom trade market in Kunming. The number of Dêqên Tibetan categories is the lowest among the four cities, numbering only 76, but the merchandise trading volume and sales volume are second only to Kunming. The main mushroom sold in Dêqên Tibetan is the Tricholoma matsutake; compared with other mushrooms, this mushroom commands a higher price and has a better flavor. The sales data for Dêqên Tibetan may also reflect the better quality of the Tricholoma matsutake. From the transaction data between Qujing and Chuxiong Yi, we can see that although the number of categories in Chuxiong Yi is higher than that in Qujing, the merchandise trading and sales volumes of wild edible mushrooms in Qujing are higher than those in Chuxiong Yi; this shows that the wild edible mushroom trade market in Qujing is more prosperous. Online sales of wild edible mushrooms in Honghe Hani and Yi, Lincang, and Zhaotong are poor, with less than RMB 10,000 monthly sales. There are no online shopping transaction data in Nujiang Lisu because there are no sales of wild edible mushrooms, or the merchandise trading volume is so low it is blocked by the online shopping platform. However, the sales data for wild edible mushrooms in these four cities may reflect the apparent gap between the local wild edible mushroom sales market and other cities, and it is necessary to measure whether they are suitable for developing a wild edible mushroom sales market.

5.3. Species Distribution of Characteristic Wild Edible Mushrooms

From the spatial distribution of different mushroom commodities in various cities in Yunnan Province (Figure 7), we can see that Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong Yi, and Yuxi are the main sales centers for most mushrooms, including Boletus, Russula virescens, Chanterelle, Black Tiger Palm and Thelephora ganbajun Zang, etc. Especially in Kunming, the sales of wild edible mushrooms are not only high, but also varied. In addition to these four cities, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao is a major sales location for Morel, and Dêqên Tibetan is a major sales location for Tricholoma matsutake. It was found that most mushrooms are sold in Kunming and its surrounding areas, but there are also several unique mushrooms for sale in other areas. These results are also consistent with previous research results on the species distribution of wild mushrooms in Yunnan [24].

5.4. Flow Analysis of Merchandise Production and Sales Matrix

From the merchandise production and sales matrix (Table 6), we can see that Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Lijiang, and Pu’er are the main export areas of wild edible mushrooms, while Kunming is the main centralized sales center for these mushrooms. As shown in Figure 8, export commodities mainly flow into Kunming from the surrounding areas of Kunming and are then sold on. Kunming is located in the middle of Yunnan Province, and Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Lijiang, and Pu’er are situated in the west of Kunming. Compared with Pu’er, Lijiang, Chuxiong Yi, and Dali Bai, the density of the first-class roads and expressways in Kunming is obviously higher and more comprehensive, which is more conducive to foreign sales of wild edible mushroom products. Therefore, Pu’er, Lijiang, Dali Bai, and Chuxiong Yi are able to transport wild edible mushrooms to Kunming, a city that is more beneficial for transporting and selling commodities.

5.5. Comprehensive Analysis of SDPI for Each City

The SDPI considers the tourism market, sales market, and road network conditions of various cities. Mushroom place-name and mushroom restaurant POI represent local tourism markets; for these, a mushroom place name may have extraordinary human-related characteristics and a mushroom restaurant provides a uniquely flavored cuisine; Online shopping data represent the local sales market. In China, online shopping consumption can broadly reflect the overall sales of goods in a region. The convenience of transportation indirectly affects the wild edible mushroom market by influencing the construction of the logistics. The statistics of the sustainable development index of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan Province are analyzed as statistical units by cities, and the normalized potential index of sustainable development of the wild edible mushroom market is obtained (

Table 7. Normalized potential index of SDPI in Yunnan Province.

City	Normalized Index
Kunming	1.00
Qujing	0.74
Pu’er	0.73
Chuxiong Yi	0.73
Dêqên Tibetan	0.65
Dali Bai	0.59
Lijiang	0.53
Yuxi	0.48
Baoshan	0.47
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao	0.43
Xishuangbanna Dai	0.32
Dehong Dai and Jingpo	0.31
Lincang	0.26
Honghe Hani and Yi	0.25
Zhaotong	0.19
Nujiang Lisu	0.00

) after normalization. From the table, it can be seen that Kunming’s normalized potential index of sustainable development ranks first, and it is in the absolute leading position. The reason for its high index is that Kunming is the capital and economic center of Yunnan Province; it has a large number of POI, with mushroom restaurants and mushroom place names, and a large number of wild edible mushroom sales. Qujing’s development potential index is 0.74, ranking second. It has good tourism and sales markets and a high road network coverage. Pu’er, Chuxiong Yi, Dêqên Tibetan, Dali Bai, and Lijiang have excellent potential for sustainable development. It is worth noting that although Dêqên Tibetan is located in a remote region, its sales market is perfect, and it has excellent potential for the development of wild edible mushrooms. It can be seen from the table that, except for Dêqên Tibetan, the cities with great market potential for such mushrooms in Yunnan Province are mainly distributed around Kunming, forming a wild edible mushroom market group with Kunming at the center. The sustainable development potential of wild edible mushroom markets in Lincang, Honghe Hani and Yi, Zhaotong, and Nujiang Lisu is low, the latter being the lowest. The POI quantities, online shopping sales levels, and road network densities related to these mushrooms in these four cities are all at the downstream level in Yunnan. Given their current situations, these four places are not suitable for wild edible mushroom markets. To develop the wild edible mushroom industry in these cities, higher investment in resources and more funding are required compared with elsewhere.

In the past, the literature related to wild mushrooms in Yunnan was mostly macro-oriented, lacking the quantitative comparison of the development status for each city; however, it can also be mutually verified against the research results in this paper. Relevant research shows that Kunming Mushuihua Wild Mushroom Trading Center is the largest trading center of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan. In 2017, the trading scale of this trading center was 183,000 tons, and the trading volume reached RMB 7.08 billion [54]. The consumption levels for wild edible mushrooms in Qujing and Pu’er were at a high level [55,56,57,58,59]. Chuxiong Yi, which has many wild mushroom cultivation bases and trading centers, is a major wild edible-mushroom-producing area in Yunnan [60,61], while Dêqên Tibetan is an important Tricholoma matsutake-producing area [62,63]. The above research reflects the accuracy of the results in this paper.

5.6. Suggestions for Sustainable Development of Wild Edible Mushrooms

At present, the Yunnan Provincial People’s Government is promoting relevant guiding information on the sustainable development of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan at the government level. This includes building a bionic cultivation demonstration base for wild edible mushrooms; building a breeding center for strains; building a standardized and functional trading market; and optimizing the industrial development environment, etc. The government’s guidance plays a vital role in the sustainable development of the wild edible mushroom market, but at the same time, individuals, small businesses, and non-governmental organizations can also contribute to the sustainable development of wild edible mushrooms. In China, for example, TikTok’s short video App and Sina Weibo’s social media platform are the most frequently contacted information sources for the public. Individuals, small businesses, and non-governmental organizations could upload promotional videos or pictures of the growth environment, delicious recipes, nutritional value information, and other related information about wild edible mushrooms to let more people know about them and promote their sustainable development. In addition, suitable planting areas for wild edible mushrooms can be extracted and identified by combining soil, climate, and temperature data with high-resolution remote-sensing imaging, thereby providing geographical advantages for further promoting the ecological production of wild edible mushrooms. In addition, the data used in this paper are mostly related to land transportation, but there is a lack of analysis of data for the more precious species of wild edible mushroom which require air transportation. Such species of wild mushroom also have an extremely high product value and market potential, and merit further attention.

6. Conclusions

Taking wild edible mushroom as an example, this paper analyzed the market behavior of characteristic agricultural products, and proposes a general method for quantitatively calculating their sustainable development potential. This demonstrates that the sustainable development potential of characteristic agricultural products can be quantitatively calculated with suitable data. In the study of wild edible mushroom production economics in various cities in Yunnan Province, China, it was found that development is better in the central and western regions of Yunnan, and that the central region of Yunnan is the best. In terms of sales distribution, the central Yunnan and Dêqên Tibetan regions have better sales markets. Among the types of wild edible mushrooms sold, the central Yunnan is the leading sales area for most mushrooms, while other cities such as Wenshan Zhuang and Miao, and Baoshan, also sell characteristic strains such as Morel and Tricholoma matsutake. From the merchandise production and sales matrix, we can see that Dali Bai, Chuxiong Yi, Lijiang, and Pu’er are the main export areas of wild edible mushrooms, while Kunming is the main centralized sales center for wild edible mushrooms. From the SDPI, the comprehensive development index for central Yunnan, especially Kunming, is generally higher than that of the other regions. At the same time, Dêqên Tibetan, located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, also has high development potential. Overall, the market situation and development prospects for wild edible mushrooms in central Yunnan, headed by Kunming and Dêqên Tibetan in northwest Yunnan are better, while those in Honghe, Zhaotong, Lincang, and Nujiang are worse.

In this paper, multi-source data, including restaurant POI, place-name POI, online shopping, and road network, were used together with other methods, and an SDPI was proposed. From a quantitative point of view, the wild edible mushroom market production economics in Yunnan Province of China was comprehensively analyzed, and the present situation and development potential of the wild edible mushroom market in Yunnan Province were obtained; this has a certain reference significance for the further development of the wild edible mushroom market in Yunnan Province. This index quantifies the sustainable development potential of characteristic agricultural products from the perspective of economics and geography. It accords with the theoretical basis and logical relationship of sustainable development, and can be widely applied to the correlation analysis of characteristic agricultural products. This paper aimed to identify the main tourism market distribution of wild edible mushrooms through POI clustering and to reveal the sales market for wild edible mushrooms through the analysis of online shopping data. At the same time, by integrating multi-source data, a quantitative index was established to quantitatively analyze the development potential of wild edible mushrooms in various cities in Yunnan Province. Nevertheless, in promoting the sustainable development of wild edible mushrooms, government-level guidance alone is insufficient, and the spontaneous behavior of individuals also plays a vital role in promoting the sustainable development of wild edible mushrooms.

The data in this paper are, however, not perfect. Some valuable wild edible mushrooms such as Tricholoma matsutake are transported by air as well as road. There is no channel to collect the data about this part of the route. In addition, the growth process of mushrooms is also closely related to local precipitation. After spores are separated from mushrooms and buried in the growth substrate, continuous precipitation with appropriate levels of humidity can promote the fast growth of mushrooms, while long-term dry weather will inhibit their growth, resulting in a sharp decline in the yield. In this paper, only one year’s online shopping transaction data for wild edible mushrooms were selected, and the weather, precipitation and other factors related to the growth of wild edible mushrooms were not considered in the method. Moreover, unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mushroom collection activities in many places were restricted, and some consumers who were willing to buy subsequently cancelled their orders because they could not receive the goods. In the follow-up research, we should not be limited to the static data of a single year, but consider a wider range of related factors. We should combine the time-series sales data with the weather and precipitation data of that year, establish an air sales network, and consider the epidemic situation and other special factors to construct a more refined SDPI model. After collecting relevant data in the future, we can further explore the logistics and distribution of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan.