UNITED STATES


Kennett Square in two minds


The borough of Kennett Square in Chester County, on the outskirts of Philadelphia in the USA, has no equal from a mushroom growing perspective. With a population of just over 6000, it is home to almost 70 mushroom farms, and practically every resident depends on mushroom growing for their livelihood. In March, Sylvan


organised a Winter Workshop in ‘The Mushroom Capital of the World’. By John Peeters


Outdoor


composting in windrows is still common practice in the region.


T 8 MUSHROOM BUSINESS


he founder of Kennet Square is credited with introducing mushroom growing to the commu- nity in the 19th century, a legend


that the Americans naturally like to keep alive. There is, however, no escaping the fact that a number of the current farms are approaching their centenaries, and that some buildings have


been in use for all those years. The region has developed its own distinctive mushroom growing style that has evolved over the past century – using so-called ‘Pennsylvania Dou- bles’. These doubles are growing rooms holding four rows of shelving stacked seven or eight beds high with a walkway built above the third or fourth bed to give access to the upper beds.


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