The spores of cutting-edge Chester County mushroom farming have found their way to fertile soil far from southeastern Pennsylvania, and new business opportunities are beginning to sprout halfway around the world in Chongqing Province, China.

Student exchange programs and a sister municipality relationship have mushroomed into rich expansion and consulting opportunities for Kennett Square architectural firm Bernardon as well as West Chester’s global engineering, repair and logistics company Communications Test Design Inc.

And that’s just the beginning.

Chester County Commissioner Terence Farrell hopes his hands-on diplomatic work will harvest a two-fold yield: more opportunities for “any company that’s looking to get a toe-hold or expand business in China” and “a pipeline of (Chinese) people to invest in (southeastern Pennsylvania) projects” that provide already-available federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program incentives, he said in an exclusive interview for VISTA Today.

The Chester County Economic Development Council has been supporting Commissioner Farrell’s efforts since the beginning. “When Terence first approached us about this idea, we knew it had great potential and aligned perfectly with our mission of fostering economic health in Chester County.

The business opportunities in China are endless and we are excited to see some of them gaining traction with our friends in Chongqing.” Said Mike Grigalonis, COO at the Economic Development Council and project lead for the Chester County China Initiative.

After visits to Chongqing Province last year, Farrell and the Chester County Economic Development Council hosted a recent tour of four Chinese delegates in Chester County headlined by a further investigation of Bernardon architectural designs for the replication of a new local fresh-pack mushroom facility “on a larger scale” over there in the province’s Ba’nan district.

Fresh-pack technology is alluring to the Chongqing Foreign Trade & Economic Relations Commission officials, as Chinese mushroom production is predominantly canned and stands to benefit from American upgrades like aluminum framing instead of wooden beds, much more compact growing spaces, and more crops per year, Farrell said.

Bernardon is also pioneering — with the help of two Chinese-born local doctors — the design of a Delaware County skilled care facility with a Chinese-inspired design motif for the region’s aging Chinese American population, and there’s potential to take the idea and design back to China.

The delegation also visited with CTDI, to explore the potential of a facility in Chongqing, where the central government is fostering economic growth through incentives — “They’re trying to make it the Chicago of China,” Farrell said.

The province has 33 million people, many of whom have smartphones, tablets, and set-top boxes for cable. The repair of that technology is a major portion of CTDI’s business which already features about 12 facilities in China.

Ultimately, the opportunities are plentiful, and Farrell is on the lookout for Chester County residents who have ties to investors in China, particularly faculty and students at The Lincoln University and West Chester University.

“In the long vision, what we’re really going to want to do is attract those students to be participants in it because they’ve got the contacts already in China, they’re probably going to be here — some might set down roots here — and that will further the partnership,” Farrell said.

Global accounting and consulting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause has already piggybacked on that effort, incorporating the delegation’s visit into an upcoming Dec. 7 program on doing business in Chongqing.

“The synergies keep happening,” Farrell said.

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County business leaders interested in leaning more about the CCCI, or getting involved, please contact Commissioner Farrell at TFarrell@chesco.org or Mike Grigalonis at MGrigalonis@ccedcpa.com.