CONTENTS 36 SYLVAN NL ON STRATEGY
Roel Dreve Publisher
Global Roel Media
Trust 8 PINHEADING 8 14 28 IN LEBANON
Pinheading: too many or too few? Portuges shiitake growing on the rise
20 Tuned to MushTV 28
Yaghi invests in Lebanese growing
30 Euromycel: raising the strain 36 Sylvan: raising the bar 40 Dutch Information Day 44
During a long car journey recently, I spoke about spawn with a sector veteran, who once used to sell spawn from the boot of his car. For years, spawn producers in Europe have witnessed a shrinking number of farms. Take the Netherlands: in 2000 there were still 517 mushroom farms, now there are 120. The average size has, of course, significantly increased. You can trust that this trend is set to continue for a while. However, the number of large spawn producers has not fallen, and, especially within the European borders, the market is pretty crowded. Spyra is expanding, Lambert has taken its first steps on the continent and established names like Amycel, who have sold spawn for decades here, are not resting on their laurels either. All these producers have invested heavily in research, technology, logistic processes and incredibly extensive testing methods, all of which means that the quality of the products supplied by the relative newcomers is rapidly approaching that of the market leaders. Trust ‘comes on foot but goes on horse’, and with such intense competition spawn producers have very little margin for error and can’t trust that their long-term relationships with customers will continue if things go seriously wrong on occasion. Spawn seems a bit similar to cars; they are all reliable, look pretty much the same, with some nuances in the details and slight differences in quality - the rest boils down to price and image. And service provision.
My Farm: Kamil Pawlowski (PL)
AND: 4 News 6, 19 Cultivation tips AdVisie 19 ISMS News 24 Focus 38 Cultivation tips DLV 46 Out and about 46 Service
Front page photo: Chantal Joseph, production manager at the La Tourte mushroom tray farm (France Champignon), proudly presents the produce, March 2015.
Two spawn producers feature in this edition. One, Sylvan, has been an established name for years, and global market leader. The other, Euromycel, has started to emerge strongly after a succession of new names and owners. They both have different backgrounds, corporate structures and approaches to spawn making, but they equally have to cope with the same, changing demands of customers. Customers who have got larger, are more knowledgeable, and whose decisions (choice of spawn) are motivated by other factors than in the past. Sure you have to – naturally! – pull a quality spawn out of the hat, time after time. But, more than before, it is vital to gain your custom- er’s trust – and keep it!
I glanced at my passenger. He was taking a nap while I was pushing 160 km in his Mercedes. A matter of trust, apparently. Oh, and a reliable car….
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 3
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