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SOUTH AFRICA SAMFA Conference in KwaZulu
Once again a successful and enjoyable two days - this year the SAMFA (South African Mushroom Farmers’ Associ- ation) conference was held on the KwaZulu Natal North Coast, 23th - 24th April 2013.
By Dr Martmari van Greuning, Sylvan Africa
The venue, the Salt Rock hotel, is situated literally a few meters from the beach. With stunning weather and a beautiful sea it was in a way a pity to spent the time indoors, but the contents and presentations made up for it!
Cold chain & climatic control Brendan Burns from Sylvan Ireland was the key note speaker and gave two very relevant presentations. The first talk was on Mushroom Quality and the Cold Chain. Mushrooms are one of the food stuffs with the highest respiration rate (1375ml CO2/kg/day compared to 480 CO2/kg/day for asparagus and 35ml 480 CO2/kg/day for apples) which partly explains their very short shelf life. The best means of enhancing shelf life is to cool mushrooms to 2 degrees Celsius as quickly as possible. Three hours at ambient temperature reduce shelf life by one day. Different cooling systems, handling and packaging design were discussed. Brendan’s second presentation was on Controls as a Tool for Mushroom Growing. The climatic requirements at each stage of the growing cycle were discussed with emphasis on the different systems available for cooling, heating and humidification. He also explained
Speakers Kieran Murphy (JFMcKenna)(l) and Brendan Burns (Sylvan).
From the left Martmari van Greuning (Sylvan Africa), James Cranke (Denny Mushrooms), Gavin Longmore (Denny), Mel Meyer (Dig-It - he was also a speaker) and Michael Muzzell (Denny) at the Salt Rock hotel.
the various control systems, set points and what the conditioning of the supply air involves. This talk linked well to Kieran Murphy from JFMc- Kenna, Ireland’s presentation on The Development of Mushroom Farm Growing Systems over the past 25 years. He shared his knowledge on putting up not only the growing room structures, but also the choice of growing systems, layout and controls.
Rob Stewart shows the bale dunking system to guys from Bosveld Sampioene and Morris Gilbert (yellow shirt).
Farm size & gypsum Mel Meyer who spent many years, on both small and big, mushroom growing facilities compared the challenges and similarities of each. It’s about striking a balance between the size operation which can be managed and operated in a profitable way. It is about the balance between the degree of mechanization and manual operation in order to produce a good quality compost, grow good quality mushrooms and getting it to the market in a good shape. Other talks included a deeper look into gypsum, how it is mined, its crystal type, uses of gypsum and the difference between natural and synthetic gypsum. Dr Linda Meyer gave an update on the Commercialization of Mabu, a locally produced environmentally friendly casing substrate manufactured from sugarcane pith a waste product of the papermaking process. Trials done with Mabu as casing substrate proved yields compara- ble to that of peat.
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