Frank Cornelissen from Limbraco, Horst during his presentation.


At Pilzland in Essleben: the bridge crossed by the mushrooms as they go from the growing room to the harvesting room.


compost tending to resort to other alternatives for their arable land. A lighter and more upbeat note came, as every year, in the form of Michel Legrand’s presentation from the ‘Grünes Medienhaus’, revealing the positive state of affairs surrounding the promotional activities of the BDC. “We are supplying rising numbers of ‘grow your own mushroom’ kits to schools. And with enthusiastic reactions; it’s a great way to bring attention to our mushrooms at an early stage.” The lunch break was followed by another presentation about spent mushroom compost. Piet Mertens from Pull BV in Rhenen, the Netherlands, spoke on a specific application of spent mushroom compost. In 2015, Pull proces- sed 800 tons of spent mushroom compost to create a substrate granulate - pellets that can be used in greenhouse horticulture for crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers. Mertens: “When we use spent mushroom compost, it is obviously vital that in our controlled production process of this type of substrate, the spent compost we use is clean and safe. This material must have been cooked out properly and has to be absolutely disease-free, otherwise our customers don’t want it. We are gradually building up a market for the product, and the results are very promi- sing and positive. One of our customers is currently growing 20 hectares of cucumbers under glass on this granulate substrate, and we expect to be supplying more in the near future.” For more information, see www.pullrhenen.nl


How many layers do you want? The most interesting session for growers came from Frank Cornelissen of Limbraco. This Dutch company was founded in 1973 and has focused on supplying technical equipment to the mushroom growing sector since 1980. Limbraco


has designed and supplied a number of farms featuring a single-layer picking system which eliminates the need for pickers to climb to harvest the beds. The system was initially installed at Baron in the Netherlands, followed by a highly successful implementation at Pilzkulturen Wesjohann, where production is organised for Pilzland. The system consists of two growing rooms built directly opposite each other. Preparations for growing take place in one groom - colonisation and pinheading - in the usual way with four beds one above the other. While the mushrooms are starting to develop, after 13 days, the nets, complete with compost, casing soil and emerging mushroom are pulled to the room opposite. Here are also four beds, but now configured one after the other so that all picking activities are done with ease on a single level. Cornelissen: “In high-wage countries, picking costs have become the major cost item over the past years. The innovative picking platforms actually signal the end of further automation on traditional Dutch-shelf style farms. We now offer a way of picking on a single-layer system - which offers a host of benefits- while the mushrooms are still grown in the familiar situation with multiple layers of beds. Further plans for automation can be realised while making optimal use of the growing rooms, as picking can take place almost every day.” Wesjohann, about whom more later, also gave Limbraco the idea of building not one, but two layers in the same room, which is even more efficient according to Cornelissen. “Pilzkulturen Wesjohann is going to expand and convert a number of farms to a two-layer system. This shows they definitely see the advantages. With two layers there is a minimum of one metre between the beds, so picking is just


Increasingly complex


legislation


regarding spent compost means growers can’t


see the wood for the trees.


 MUSHROOM BUSINESS 43


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