You may or may not remember me writing about the Tibetan communities of Yushu digging caterpillar fungus in June each year. It's an annual harvest that accounts for the majority of the cash income of many families, and has been growing increasingly profitable over the past few years. When I was in Bhutan, I heard rumors of yak herders there paying cash for Toyota Land Cruisers, all earned from caterpillar fungus sales. It will be interesting to see if the high demand persists and local communities and governments are able to manage the harvests well enough to keep up production. Even better if they can manage the profits.
National Geographic even had a short piece on the trade: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/tibetan-mushroom/finkel-text
