Mushrooms by the ton

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 1

Mushrooms by the ton

Mushrooms for sale throughout New Zealand and for export are now being grown at a 30,000 sq. ft, $350,000 “mushroom farm” at Prebbleton. The farm—a large, heavily-insulated building—has a capacity of a ton of fresh mushrooms a day.

Although this is the capacity, of the farm, this scale of production has not yet been reached because off the failure of the vital heating and humidifying plant installed, the managing director of Meadow Mushrooms, Ltd (Mr P. Burdon) said yesterday.

However, the problems were slowly being overcome. I and production would rise to its planned level, although considerable potential production had been lost. Canterbury was the best place in New’ Zealand or Australia for a mushroom farm because it; was essential to be near large supplies of barley or wheat straw, and manure, he said. At Prebbleton, the farm was also close to transport and to the airport: fresh mushrooms for sale in Australia are sent by air. And the farm was near canning and freezedrying plants. Every day The farm began production early last December, and now employs eight to 10 men and up to 25 women. Mushrooms are cut every day, and the process is continuous. The mushrooms are grown in; treated compost and sterilised soil packed in sack-size plastic bags. The bags are stacked on frames in each of 12 growing rooms, all of which are insulated with 24in of fibreglass, lined with polythene as a moisture barrier, and maintained at a temperature of 65deg Fahrenheit and humidity of 90 per cent. Plastic bags are used for the growing because ' they are clean and sterile, and convenient to use. Spawn delivered Production is based on a 12-week growing cycle. I Each bag is three-1 quarters filled with a compost made from straw, horse manure and various additives, and to, this is added mushroom spawn sent from labora-j tories in the North! Island. Carefully sterilised “neutral”! soil is placed 2in deep on the top of the compost. The root system' takes about four weeks; to establish fully, and! 1 cutting lasts for eight weeks. When the cutting period is| at its peak the top of each of the 1150 plastic! bags in a room is a mass of plump, clean, white mushrooms. Biggest danger The biggest danger, Mr! Burdon said, is disease: there are numerous' diseases which affect mushrooms, and careful sterilisation and prepara-; tion of the soil and com-! post is vital. The straw which forms the! basis of the compost is prepared at the rate of! about 50 tons a day,! three weeks supply' being on hand at any one time. The* farm is at present using strajv at the rate of more than 50,000 bales a year. The composting is carried!

out mechanically after ;l the addition of manure t ! and such additives as f| linseed meal, which help 1 break down the straw. > Before the compost is > placed in the bags—about f 1001 b to a bag—it is i treated with methyl bromide gas to kill any disease organisms. Major factor 1 Although the growing rooms ; are only dimly lit—when : they are lit at all—the amount of light is not a major factor in the production of the mushrooms, Mr Burdon said. But very bright light is best avoided. ’ The demand for the mushrooms was enormous, he ’ said. At present the demand was probably ; about 8m lb of mushrooms a year, or the out--1 put from a farm eight to 1 10 times the size of the ’ present concern. ft was hoped that the Meadow Mushrooms farm would expand to meet the demand, he said. The company was i New Zealand-owned and I run, but worked in assoi ciation with, mushroomi producing companies in : Britain and other coun- : tries. At present mushrooms were i! being exported to MelI bourne, Sydney and i Honolulu, Mr Burdon said, and the company i could export as much as ! it could produce.