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Karin Sikes explains in one of the enormous gro- wing rooms. Rob Arts on the left.
That adds up to annual production on this farm in the region of 9.7 million kg per year. Definitely a major league player!
Heat recovery In the roof space that houses the climate installations for the growing rooms, Jan Gielen explained how the climate is managed on the Sikes farm. “We are dealing here with 16 growing rooms of 1306 square metres, with eight tiers of beds. On a farm like this you need about 25 m3 of air per square metre of gro- wing surface area per hour, so each growing room is equipped with a fan that supplies a good 30,000 m3 of air per hour. This farm, unusually for a mechanised farm, has a central duct that introduces air into the rooms via a counter rotating inlet in the rooms. The air must not be allowed to flow over the heat sink too fast; otherwise the cooling value of the sink is too low. These large heat sinks have been fitted with a double intake and exhaust for optimal perfor- mance.” The computer was supplied by Christiaens, which means it beats with a Fancom heart. Gielen: “The cold water used for cooling is set to six to 12 degrees, depending on the season. Notably, a low temperature is used here for the heating water. The temperature is around 45-55 degrees, and in sum- mer the heat is generated entirely by heat recovery from the cooling installation that features water- cooled condensers. In winter a little extra heating is necessary, generated by an extra heating boiler. The steam boiler also has a heat exchanger for additional heating during cold weather. Air distribution is quite challenging here, with narrow corridors and eight tiers of beds – a typical mechanised farm set-up where this type of configuration is an additionally
Visitors during the farm tour.
Jan Gielen of DLV Plant Mushrooms, talking about bed cooling.
critical factor. The values for air distribution have to be set very carefully.”
After the tour, visitors enjoyed some time together in the sunshine with a chilled beer, a bag of chips and a ‘frikandel’ sausage. Not really innovative, but typically Dutch all the same! ◗
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