Brothers Arthur (l) and Erik (r) Pleunis and their father Ton.


pany experienced massive expansion and built extensively, particularly in the 1980s. In the years spanning 1966 to 1990, seven growing facilities, a tunnel company, warehousing and an office were built. In addition, in nearby Bree, just over the border in Belgium, construction of eight growing rooms of 490m2 started in 1984. At a later stage, this first phase was expanded to 32 growing rooms, plus a tunnel company with 41 tunnels. Later still, a number of phase I tunnels were built so the company could produce its own fresh compost.


In 1985 the brothers started growing shiitake in beds on a sawdust substrate. Thei travelled to China and Japan on study trips, to learn from the wide experience with growing shiitake there. In 1990, a separate farm was built dedicated to gro- wing shiitake in beds. However, persistent pro- blems with green mould were instrumental in this activity being stopped again a few years later. The buildings were converted to use for white mushrooms.


Initially all production was sold via the auction in Roermond, but in 1983 a subsidiary called Holly was established, which focused mainly on exports. This subsidiary was originally located at the current location, but it relocated to Venlo due to strong growth. In the glory days, the Pleunis brothers produced and traded about 140 tons of mushrooms a week.


In 1989 the company was sold to an investment


Maurice Koppen, General Manager, with one of the mixed mushroom products.


Ò MUSHROOM BUSINESS 23


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