MY FARM
In each edition of “Mushroom Business”, we publish an interview with a grower. The emphasis here is on the farm and cultivation methods. This issue features a portrait of family-run farm Champigraja in Graja de Iniesta in Spain.
By Erik de Groot Champigraja (ESP) The grower
Graja de Iniesta is a village of 300 inhabitants, situated 100 kilometres west of Valencia. Brothers Manuel and Joaquin Rodriguez started growing mushrooms here 1968, at the time still in caves. As well as growing wheat and running a vineyard, mushroom growing formed a welcome addition to the income in the winter and spring. It was such a success that four growing rooms of 300 m2 were built in 1972, followed by another eight in 1980. In 2002 their sons Mario, Joaquin and Christian joined the company and the name Champigraja was created. Plans were immediately made to construct a new, modern farm and this ambition was achieved
in 2004. Eight growing rooms, each of 385 m2 were built, equipped with shelves and a Fancom climate computer system. In 2005 Champigraja became a member of the large cooperative for the region, Champinter, and is still affiliated today. Champigraja is one of the few farms within Champinter that still uses the shelf system. 80 percent of the affiliated farms grow
mushrooms in trays, which are supplied complete with casing soil. Champigraja is supplied with incubated compost and Champinter also markets the production. In 2006 Champi- graja added a casing soil facility where they produce their own casing, mainly using peat from Valencia. At a later stage, in 2012, a further four growing rooms were built, bringing the current total to 12 rooms measuring 385 m2.
As Mario Rodriguez informed us there are plans for further expansion in the future, but this depends on whether there is a market for the mushrooms. “At Champinter, each grower is limited to how much he can supply. If these restrictions allow, then Champigraja will certainly take advantage of the opportunity.”
Cultivation
The 12 rooms are filled in a six-week cycle, so two rooms are filled every week. Filling is
38 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
done using a Christiaens head filler, an older machine for phase II compost which the growers have modified by building on a casing soil unit. 25 tons of incubated compost is available for each room, so the average filling weight is relatively low at around 65 kg/ m2. An Amycel supplement is used and the spawn varies from XXX (Amycel) and A15 (Sylvan) to spawn produced by Cham- pinter itself. The brothers do not really see any noticeable differences between the types of spawn. Ruffling is done after six to eight days, as a measure to determine the first day picking can start. Champin- ter’s sales of the mushrooms are set precisely per day, so it is very important that growers can supply in synch with the planning.
“We saw ruffling being done in the Netherlands, and it helps us define the picking window better as well as getting more uniform mycelium growth higher up in the casing”, says Christian, who is tasked with managing cultivation. The mycelium is quite high in casing soil, which makes it easier to reduce the number of mushrooms that emerge and keeps them free from soiling caused by the casing. Cham- pinter expects very high quality standards. “We want large mushrooms with no casing attached so we can comply with
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