Natalie Rangno with Hans Deckers.
During the lectures. Dutch grower Jeffrey Heeren in front, talking to Piet Lem- pens (Hooymans Substrates, Dutch Mushroom Days).
that they are available all year round and they are easy to prepare. “Kulturpilze sind Superhel- den” is the message of the film.
Casing soil and peat Then it was the turn of Natalie Rangno, originally from Kazakhstan but now working for the IHD in Dresden, the Institute for Holz Technology Dresden. She is working there on a project called Mykodeck, and is trying, among other things, to find an alternative for casing soil made from peat. In principle, the intention is to no longer use peat in Germany by 2030, but whether this will actually happen, at least for mushroom cultivation, remains to be seen. Rangno indicated that 90% of the peat extracted worldwide is used as fuel, and only 1.5% for mushroom cultivation. She discussed production figures in various countries to emphasize the need for the project. She also said that the mix- tures put forward by the IHD as an alternative to peat casing have been tested at several commer- cial companies. It was a bit frustrating for Rangno that these companies did not want to provide all the information, and apparently there were no photos of the first flushes available. Still, the results were encouraging: according to Rangno, there was no production loss at the par- ticipating test farms. She therefore came to the conclusion that a lot of research still needs to be done, but also that in the future it will be possi- ble to produce mushrooms without peat. This is partly dependent on the availability of certain raw materials from the mixture. The recipe for the mixture was not disclosed. After this interesting morning, all attendees were looking forward to the afternoon program, consisting of four different companies that all gave a presentation in the field of harvesting aids for mushroom production. But first there was a very tasty lunch.
Harvest systems compared Hans Deckers summarized the afternoon program with the words: ‘How do I get the
mushrooms into the tray with as few hands as possible?’ This was exactly the approach of the BDC. Let four supplying companies, all of which already have running systems, explain why their system is better than the rest. This section of the Jahrestagung will be discussed further in a sepa- rate article in this issue, covering the various systems as well as the latest news from the four presentations (see page 36). After the presentations there was a short panel discussion. One of the questions from the audi- ence was how long it would take before 50% of the mushrooms in Europe would be harvested by a robot. There was a telling silence, but the bottom line is that there will have to be colla- boration between all these suppliers. There is also no standard solution to solve the problem of staff availability and costs. That will be different for every company. But the presentations were very well received by the audience, and it was a more than interesting afternoon.
Pilzland Schwaigern Last in line on Friday was Torben Kruse from Pil- zland, who gave directions for the company visit next day, and explaining a number of practical matters regarding Pilzland Schwaigern. It is Pilzland’s first farm in the state of Baden-Würt- temberg, which produces for the region.
Only 1,5% of
extracted peat worldwide is used for
mushroom cultivation.
Panel discussion. Left to right: Jack Lemmen, Jan-Emiel Tack, Richard Greer, Roland van Doremaele and Stefan Glibetic.
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 9
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