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NORTHERN IRELAND Northway goes East
On 16 and 17 June, John Peeters Mushroom Consulting organised a study trip for the Northway Mushrooms growers association from Northern Ireland to the region surrounding the Polish town of Siedlce. Huge investments are on-going there in farms and composting, so it was the ideal place to visit for the group of six, ambitious Irish growers.
By John Peeters
The Northway producer organisation is located in Blackwatertown, a small village close to Armagh, Northern Ireland. The organisation numbers around 25 affiliated growers, the majority of whom are from Northern Ireland, but Northway also includes some members from the Irish Republic. A few years ago, Northway, under the leadership of Elaine Shaw, maintained close ties with the trading company Hughes Mushrooms from Dungannon. There are still links between the two, but today Northway growers can also opt for a number of other trading organisa- tions to market their mushrooms. Northway plays an active role in the negotiation process and where ne- cessary takes the lead in ensuring that its growers achieve the best prices for their mushrooms. Due to its geographical location in Northern Ireland there are strong ties with the rest of the United King- dom, and the bulk of the mushrooms are destined for supermarkets in the UK. The Northway growers have booked a lot of progress in recent years. Existing farms have been expanded, growers still using phase II compost have switched to working with phase III, and several companies have started mechanical harvesting and implmented automation. Northway’s total production is now in the region of 400 tons of mushrooms a week. There is also a slight shift in emphasis apparent at Northway from white to chestnut mushrooms. Compost spawned with chestnut mushrooms is now slowly emerging on the market in Ireland, promoted by the growing demand from the market in England. The organisa- tion also supports its members with activities such as technical support, capital investment support, optimising quality and traceability, harvesting and professionalising labour and production planning.
Siedlce Northway initiated the trip in conjunction with John Peeters, who was in charge of the group when it visi- ted the east of Poland. David Dallas, whose respon- sibilities at Northway include quality systems and supervising the growers, was accompanied by six growers. David Coulter, Niall McKenna, Eamon Mur- ray, Gary Askin, Declan McKeever and Gerard Fegan flew from Dublin to Warsaw on Sunday evening. The next day, John Peeters collected them from their hotel and drove them on the hour and a half journey to Siedlce, the new centre of mushroom growing in Poland. Poland is expected to produce 300,000 tons of mushrooms this year – compared with 60,000 tons in Ireland – a large proportion of which is grown in this region. At lunchtime, the group met up with Wo- jciech Karczewski from casing soil supplier Wokas and Emil Gluchowski from spawn producers Spyra, who would act as interpreters and help with other practical aspects.
Gluchowski and Grzybek Losicki The first stop on the agenda was Gluchowksi, where
A sheet of
statistics helps dissolve the lan- guage barrier.
the tray growing system is used. The group admired the new hall which has been built to fill the metal trays and grow the phase IV compost. Tray farms are an uncommon occurrence in Poland, as practi- cally all the other growers use the Dutch shelving system. Gluchowski, which once started with trays, has remained true to the system and implemented advanced professionalisation. With the construc- tion of a new tray filling line the company hopes to take another step forwards. The company now produces roughly 200 tons a week, and will shortly start producing its own compost. A new compos- ting plant has been specifically built locally for this purpose with the aid of companies including Dalsem Mushroom Projects and Hoving Holland. It will be put into production at the end of the summer. The plant has a bunker composting system with a mixing line, bunker fillers and tunnels to produce phase II and III compost. As there are plans afoot among Northway growers to start compost production, this was a wel- come point of reference. The plant was not comple- tely finished, but the intended result was clear. The production flow from raw materials to compost was already clearly visible. The day concluded with a visit to Grzybek Losicki. A few years ago, this site hosted the “Pieczarkalia” tra- de event, just before the company started operating. It is currently a packing and trading company for a
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