By Con Hermans, and contributions by Roel Dreve, Thei Staaks, et al.
How to manage a pandemic CORONA
After the outbreak of coronavirus sparked devastation in China (see report on our website), its trail of destruction appeared in Europe and elsewhere in February/ March with unprecedented negative impacts on the lives of individuals and busines- ses. Although the mushroom sector has not been hit as hard as other sectors, the quarantine measures have also resulted in huge losses. In this edition, you can read how companies and organisations worldwide are coping with the consequences of the pandemic. A snapshot of a constantly shifting situation.
E
arly victims of the impact of coronavi- rus in the west were all the meetings, study clubs and events, which had to be cancelled due to social distancing
measures. The planned National Dutch Mushroom Day and the AGM of the German BDC both had to be abandoned. In Russia and Ukraine, the annual general meetings were postponed until September 2020 (see Events at www.
mushroombusiness.com ). The international workshops organised by Sylvan and MCSub- stradd/Havens have also been cancelled for the time being.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands is home to many internationally active mushroom growing consultants and advi- sers, who were immediately affected due to travel restrictions. Sales of mushrooms in the Nether- lands were not necessarily the major problem, because the demand remained fairly high, the price was good, and the supermarkets were still open. Most mushrooms were harvested as plan- ned at the end of March. However, manual pic- king farms especially decided to stay on the safe side and fill a lower quantity for the next cycle. Similar to China, growers of exotic mushrooms appeared to be affected more seriously, as they have a greater reliance on sales to markets and restaurants, all of which had to close in the Netherlands on 15 March. For one major Dutch grower of oyster mushrooms, this meant that at the end of March he could only trade one third of his production. Growers desperately looked for ways to off load their production and found alter- native solutions locally or on-line. An exceptio- nal initiative was the successful drive-thru organised by Banken Champignons in early April when mixed packs of exotic mushrooms could be ordered and collected from their premises. This example was copied in a variety of formats. A positive boost for Dutch mushroom growers was the fact that mushrooms from Poland were unable to cross the border.
Daily temperature log in the US. 8 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
Speaking to a large Dutch composting company at the beginning of April we understood that most of the problems were being experienced with exports to distant destinations. These pro- blems were already emerging in January/Febru- ary, caused by cancellations and changes to sailing schedules, the difficulty of obtaining con- tainers and the associated ramping up of prices.
Photos by Con Hermans, Martin van de Vorle, Ray Samp
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