By John Peeters AUTOMATION
Which system is right for me?
Around five years ago I contributed an article in MB 87 on automation in mushroom growing, and in particular the tools and systems available at the time to help increase picker productivity. In the intervening period, developments have not stood still. Time for an update.
O
ver the past few years, various articles in Mushroom Business have obviously highlighted the new develop- ments, but an overview of all the available systems was lacking. Companies looking to invest should carefully
consider the future direction. After all, an existing mushroom farm with many years of operation still ahead is different to a new build project. In all cases, investing equates to a serious amount of money,
so it is vital to make the right choices from the start. There are a number of systems currently being used by commercial growers that stand out. But developments are ongoing, and this article cannot claim to give a complete picture. However, like the organisers of the BDC Jahrestagung in Heilbronn (see page 8), we thought it would be useful to compare four different promising systems in operation, to see where we stand at the moment. They are listed in random order.
The Christiaens drawer system
Glibetic: ‘We
discovered that the Christiaens drawer system design and
infrastructure were perfect to incorporate a
robotic harvester’
This system is already operating in various coun- tries, including the Netherlands where it is used by Heereco in Uden (featured in MB114). The farm is split into two halves, each covering an equal surface area. On one side the beds in the ‘normal’ growing rooms are filled with compost and casing. These growing rooms are equipped with standard climate control systems, and hold two rows of beds, seven high. Christiaens are very keen to ensure mushrooms can be grown in stan- dard growing rooms, so any concerns about air distribution, bed width and capacity are solved thanks to their years of experience with standard situations. The mushrooms grow in these rooms until the pins develop, a process that lasts about 13-14 days. They are then winched over a bridge in a roofed corridor to harvesting rooms aligned precisely opposite. At Heereco, the pinning rooms are also filled and emptied from the same corridor, but this set up was dictated by the size of their plot. In principle, the pinning rooms are filled on one side, the beds are winched over the bridge, and emptied on the other side. This is the ideal situation, also because of hygiene issues. The nets in the pinning rooms are not pulled over to the other rooms. The bridge consists of a winch that rolls up the nets while the compost,
36 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
casing and mushrooms are transported further by a belt. A clean net is inserted underneath and the pulling winch positions it in the right place in a harvesting room cell with moving drawers. These beds full of compost and mushrooms ready for picking can move under a rotating disc - more about which later. Initially, the beds, which are placed close together, are all filled on one side. The different configuration of the growing rooms on this side of the farm means there are 14 beds stacked closely together. The shelving that holds the beds consist of open rails and upright edges along the sides. The beds are guided over these rails. There is a picking platform with a large rotating disc at the centre of the harvesting room. The drawers move individually underneath this platform at a variable speed. As there are two rows of shelving, two platforms and discs have been installed. These picking platforms can move up and down so each bed can be harvested one by one. Two or three pickers are stationed on the platform, one or two of whom pick the mushrooms and place them in v-shaped inden- tations in the disc where the stumps are sliced away automatically. The other picker places the trimmed mushrooms in punnets supplied by a belt. This belt is filled with multi-packs in the packing hall and transports them to the harves- ting room. The filled punnets exit again via a conveyor belt and return to the packing hall. The mushrooms are still graded manually. It is relati-
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