John Peeters clarified the huge difference between European and American casing soil. “Using a percentage of wet black peat will enhance mushroom quality, but also force up the price of casing. Finding the right balance is key here”, said Peeters, “but by using CAC spawn (casing inoculum or CI) you local growers can never use a really heavy casing soil, un- less you used compost as CAC which would automatically keep the casing soil structure more open and airy.” The growers in Kennett now mainly rely on 100% Canadian sphagnum peat moss, the frozen and dried peat impor- ted from Canada that actually does not permit any structure to be created in the casing. Katie Beekman then explained the advantages of using a certain program of recording yields and other data on farms (
www.syngenta-us. com) followed by Daniel Rahn of the American Mushroom Institute (AMI) who spoke on disea- ses and the policy on crop protection products in the USA (
www.americanmushroom.org). Theo Haegens, partner in GMBC, was last to speak at the workshop. His presentation concerned mushroom harvesting and particular
Spawn run on compost blocks, so phase III can be fi lled at the farm.
what motivates a workforce. “Money is obvious- ly a motivating factor, but it is not all down to hard cash. Personal attention from managers, encouragement not punishment – these aspects are equally as important. A regular income and working hours, job security, no conflicts at the workplace and feeling appreciated. These are factors that pickers highly value.” And with the- se words, a very interesting day came to a close.
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AGARICUS COMPOST
PLEUROTUS SUBSTRATE SUPPLY FOR GROWERS
Naamloos-1 1 04-04-17 12:24 MUSHROOM BUSINESS 11
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