GERMANY
The company’s biofilter is filled with straw that is changed every two weeks.
System, which integrates all harvest and stock management and planning into existing soft- ware systems, to provide a much clearer picture for managers.
Artificial Intelligence Mark den Ouden of Mushroom Office took the floor to explain the status of the sector in terms of applying Artificial Intelligence (AI). Den Ouden, in collaboration with Emile Derache of Heliovision, has an AI solution. “About two years ago, I was called by someone from England with a question: ‘can you use cameras and images, combined with AI in mushroom growing?’. That question intrigued me. But what is AI? According to ChatGPT, AI is a technology that imitates human intelligence through learning, thinking and decision-making and is often used to automate processes and solve problems. With mushroom growing, there are almost always too many or too few mushroom that grow too quickly or too slowly. And mushroom growing is not profession, but a way of life. Growers have to inspect the growing rooms twice a day, 52 weeks of the year in order to make the right decisions. Year in, year out. There has to be a way to do that more easily! We teamed up with Heliovision in Belgium and have now installed smart cameras in the growing rooms that record an image of the beds every hour. This means that growers can remotely monitor the recovery growth phase to determine when cool down should start. This affects the number of mushrooms and the timing of when picking can start. The camera measures the speed of recovery growth and probably does this better than a grower. It also counts the number of pinheads. Monitoring and counting every hour in exactly the same place is also something that a smart
16 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
The tunnel company is located near the Harz mountains.
camera with AI can do more accurately as well as determining the spread, average size of the pinheads and so on. Using this system eases the grower’s workload, supports better planning for harvesting and sales, and optimises the deployment of pickers. It also helps minimise errors. Although the system still needs a lot of improvement and refinement, it signifies a great first step. Incorporating big data will also pave the way for more reliable predictions of cultivation, with fewer errors. Growers will remain an essential part of the loop, but one grower may soon be able to manage and oversee more.”
Hackers Next to speak was Johanna Baldus from the German government’s Cybersecurity for SMEs department. She explained the serious issues posed by cybercrime and highlighted the lack of awareness among both ordinary people and production companies. “Tackling hackers and other cyber criminals who gain access through our online computer systems is not a matter for individuals or companies,” Baldus said, “but for an entire network of companies and people you work with. Just a single, malicious e-mail from a suspicious source can bring your entire business to a standstill. In the entire Federal Republic of Germany, damages in excess of 200 billion euros are noted every year. An immense sum, but more than half of German companies suffered a successful or unsuccessful cyber attack last year. And ransomware extortion attacks demand huge payments in exchange for decryption. So you really need to be alert! Protect your systems, don’t respond to any strange e-mails, and never click any links or attachments in suspicious e-mails or apps. Here are some tricks and tips to prevent this. It’s vital to remain aware of the
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