By John Peeters
How clever is tilting? TILTING SHELVES
For the first time in history, GTL Europe BV has constructed a commercial mushroom farm equipped with tilting shelves. This system aims to improve the pic- king performance. Several prototypes and trials paved the way but were never larger than one growing room. German company Deckers decided to leave their comfort zone and take the plunge with GTL.
Outside view taken from the side of the farm being built. T 44 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
he Deckers family from Gel- dern-Pont, just over the Dutch bor- der near Venlo, has built up an extremely impressive business over the years. So let's look at that in greater detail before moving on to their latest venture with the by now famous tilting shelves. Father Hans, and sons Marco and Patrick Deckers, have acquired a considerable portfolio of mushroom farms and trading companies. Rheinische Pilz Zentrale (RPZ) and Rhein Neckar Pilze (RNP) are trading companies that market the mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and shiitake produced by the various farms in their own, specific region. Most of the production sites are found in North Rhi- ne-Westphalia, with one located in Bürstadt in the federal state of Hessen. Four farms can be found in Pont, near Geldern. Two of these grow organic mushrooms, in seven 200 square metre
growing rooms, with 12 growing rooms of 400 square metres. The newer farm owned by Marco Deckers consists of 24 rooms of 1296 square metres while the farm equipped with the tilting system has eight rooms of 756 square metres. Some years ago, a farm with 26 rooms of 820 square metres was started in Bürstadt. The family also rents the Ema farm in Xanten, with 21 x 340 square metres, a farm in Wesel with six x 240 square metres, a farm in Melderslo (the Netherlands) with seven x 240 square metres and 15 former army bunkers in Twisteden where oyster mushrooms and shiitake are grown. The family business employs 650 people, of whom approximately 450 are seasonal workers from Poland. The production of organic mushrooms is about 40 tons and is showing a rising trend, conventionally grown brown mushrooms amount to 140 tons and standard white mushrooms total at 240 tons. In addition to these weekly production figures, they also pro- duce a few tons of oyster mushrooms and shii- take. Mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms grown by third party German suppliers are also marketed. So, the family is no stranger to the ins and outs of mushroom growing and trading.
Shelves To fully understand the implications, it is important to know precisely what the tilting shelves from GTL Europe involve. What they actually are is the result of further development of a standard set of shelving with two uprights, which has been divided into two sections that tilt outwards at a 45-degree angle. The principle behind the concept is to tilt the beds towards the picker, who then has a view of all the mushrooms in the bed from above. This signifi- cantly simplifies picking because it is easier to see the mushrooms and no time is wasted rea- ching over the beds to pick mushrooms in the centre. The system also has ergonomic advanta- ges, with a better picking posture, and it is ideal
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