With this year’s reunions set to be extra special, December is a wonderful time for catching up with our loved ones, swapping gifts, and indulging in feasts together. Of course, with all the celebrations, Christmas isn’t always a good time for our health (or the scales)!

We know that by simply adding mushrooms to our Christmas stuffing, to chip and dip platters for entertaining, and including mushrooms in summer BBQ recipes is a great way to serve lighter, healthier and tastier meals this festive season - but there are also very specific reasons why mushrooms are a great health gift to give your loved ones this Christmas.

White Mushroom Cups – The gift of vitamin D.

The white mushroom cup is on the top of our Christmas tree, as it is Australia’s most popular festive mushroom - with good reason. Despite its small size, exciting new Australian research1 has uncovered that this little mushroom is full of B group vitamins (including B12), minerals, antioxidants, and gut health nutrients. The research also confirmed something very exciting - mushrooms are the only wholefood able to provide 100% of the daily recommended dose of vitamin D per serve.

Presenting as an active hormone called ergosterol, mushrooms can produce vitamin D in a similar process to our skin. When mushrooms are exposed to sunlight for just 15-minutes the ergosterol converts into a bioactive form of vitamin D, which we absorb when we eat the mushroom. Amazingly, once a mushroom has been ‘supercharged’ with vitamin D by being exposed to the sun, the new D levels remain in the mushroom for up-to a week if they are stored in the fridge.

Please read the full article here.
Source: AMGA / Australian Mushroom Growers´ Assoc.

At the end of a year or at the start of a new one it is always a good thing to look back and forward. Look at it as an evaluation and re-focussing of targets. It is also a good time to give yourself and your team a feedback.
Looking back to 2021 it was a year of great challenges. We had our normal variations in compost and casing soil quality. It still is impossible to predict the weather so we still will have to cope with changes in raw materials due to the weather. And reacting to that always comes too late.

Mushroom Team and products
Mertens supplies their products to professional agriculture, garden retail and landscaping.
All divisions have their specific sales and customer services teams which enable them to offer customized products and services. Furthermore customer loyalty and expertise are one of the strong pillars of Mertens. A dedicated Mushroom team is handling the mushroom sector in more than 41 countries. Mertens offers a complete package of products for growers and tunnel companies: biocontrol, films, cultivation, compost and sliding mats, fogging equipment, scales and hygiene products. They have a clear offline strategy with their experienced sales team and online with their extensive webshop. Thanks to their knowledge and expertise, they are able to advise their customers in the best possible way. Due to their large network and collaboration with partners, Mertens supports their customers in the whole process of mushroom growing.

Who are part of this successful team?

Rob Wilbers, Sales Manager Mushrooms
Rob’s career in the Mushroom Industry started already at a very young age as his parents owned a mushroom farm. He wanted to gain some more in depth experience and personal growth within a different company and started his individual route at Mertens in the early 80’s.
He started out as a warehouse worker and worked his way up the Mushroom Ladder. In 1986 he started to further develop the mushroom segment. He quickly saw the opportunities and the future of mushrooms abroad and travelled to various countries to further expand the business. Currently his focus is on the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Rumania and Croatia.
Rob celebrates his 40 year working anniversary next year, a great milestone and achievement!

Björn Beurskens, Account Manager Mushrooms
Björn was born and raised in Horst, the South of the Netherlands, and the centre of mushroom farming. He decided to study Hospitality Management and began his career as cook and host in various restaurants. After a few detours in other branches he started at Mertens 13 years ago, of which 7 years within the mushroom team. His working area covers the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and all other countries outside Europe. His focus is giving mushroom cultivation advice, and we know for sure that you can call him anytime for a delicious (mushroom) recipe.    

Bobby Minten, Customer Service Employee
Mushrooms are a big part of the family history of Bobby Minten, as his grandparents owned a mushroom farm. In his teenage years he worked in horticulture and greenhouses. After high school he decided to get a bachelor degree in commercial economics. Bobby joined Mertens about 8 years ago and first worked in the warehouse for half a year and then joined the back office. During his time in the back office he grew in his role and after 4 years, in 2018, he got the opportunity to start in the Mushrooms customer service department.
His area of responsibility is handling and processing all incoming orders and export documentation for the mushroom segment worldwide. Furthermore he handles worldwide incoming requests from new customers for other segments within Mertens.

For more info and contact details click here!

Mushrooms that grow between the 1st and 2nd break are called tweeners or in between mushrooms. They are very hard mushrooms because they had a lot of water at the end of the breaks but will discolor fast, once picked, because of that water. They are, however, white inside and are therefore extremely suitable to use for slicing. Many farms worldwide are growing tweeners, only to use them for their sliced product. However, if you have a lot of tweeners it can have a negative effect on the quantity of pins in 2nd breaks. You need to control the amount of tweeners that grow out and spread them out nicely over the whole shelf. If some spots have many tweeners together the 2nd break will not be able to develop well, and yield will be lost. On some farms I see harvest managers making some extra yield with tweeners but not realizing enough that that extra yield gets lost in the 2nd breaks, where you normally pick you nicest quality mushrooms.

That doesn’t mean you can’t grow tweeners. Some farms use them to control the quantity of the pins in 2nd breaks. Just by leaving them nicely spread over the beds you can control the amount of 2nd break mushrooms. Clean the beds good after the 1st break, don’t pick for 2 days and on the 3rd, day manage it well controlling the in between break. If you see the 2nd break coming up spontaneously you can leave some more tweeners, if the 2nd break is struggling on some spots, you must open the in between break up and pick some more there. That need to be planned and managed good to get the best benefits out of the total production.

Erik de Groot
Global Agriculture Services
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

At the beginning of this year, EuroMycel welcomed a new sales manager to their team, Jeroen Dunant. He has a broad experience in sales within the green industry.

Jeroen is responsible for the North European market, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany,
United Kingdom and Ireland. His main focus is to explore new markets and develop new opportunities for the mycelium products. In particular for the E58 premium mycelium for the fresh mushroom market and the E58 HD for the mechanized market. EuroMycel is a French company that produces mycelium situated in Touraine, home of the royal chateaux of France and cradle of the Champignon de Paris.

In 2010 EuroMycel was taken over by the Bonduelle Group, which enabled them to invest and develop new equipment and laboratories. EuroMycel is a strong player in the Bonduelle Group with a 2,7 miljard revenue last year. The director of the company, Frédéric Mathieu, reports directly to Bonduelles’ management and is therefore able to make quick decisions and direct the growth even more efficiently.

Jeroen works intensively with growers and compost companies. To sell the mycelium, but also invest in tests with the compost companies to improve the quality of compost in the growing companies.

If you have any questions for Jeroen, you can contact him via:

Jeroen Dunant
Sales Manager Northern Europe
Tel: (+31) 6 82183632
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.euromycel.com

When you think of mushrooms, you often think of spring. But do you also know why so many mushrooms can be found in the autumn? This is because it generally rains a lot in the autumn while the temperature is still fairly high. Then it is moist and warm and mushrooms love that. Of course they stand out because of their beautiful colors and the most famous and one of the most colorful is of course the Amanita Muscaria, but which is not edible!
They can be found in all colors but the Lactarius Indigo with its appearance, is a very special one. Commonly known as the Indigo Milk Cap, this blue mushroom grows most in North Africa, Central America and East Asia. The Lactarius Indigo grows on the ground in both deciduous and coniferous forests. The color of the fruiting body and also the milk that oozes when the mushroom tissue is cut, is indigo blue.

If you have read the foregoing you would think that this must be a very poisonous mushroom. But despite its color, this mushroom is not poisonous and completely edible. They have a bitter, peppery taste. When you cook them, the taste is similar to a portobello. Lactarius indigos lose some of their blue color during cooking and turn greyish-blue. You can use them for example, in a grilled dish or in a soup. But in whatever dish you use this beautiful mushroom, the dish looks heavenly.

Credits for photo: Dan Molter/Wikimedia Commons

In 2020, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVMA) conducted targeted inspections of dark cultivations: mushroom cultivation and chicory forcing. Ultimately, 93 percent complied with the rules regarding the use of cultivation protection products. That is close to the target of 95 percent compliance. But this end result was only achieved after inspected companies were given the opportunity to repair imperfections. 10 of the 27 inspected companies did this to succeed. Despite this, there were also two companies that did not have their affairs in order.

NVWA inspectors conducted targeted farm inspections in 2020 on 27 farms with dark cultivations (17x for mushrooms). The focus during these inspections was on the use of plant protection products and biocides.

Imperfections in administration
The results of these targeted inspections show that almost 93 percent of the inspected companies follow the rules regarding the use of plant protection products. This 93 percent is approaching the target of at least 95 percent compliance. However, this favorable final picture was only achieved after the inspected companies took advantage of the opportunity to repair imperfections. This happened at a dozen companies, which mostly involved administrative matters. The most common deficiencies related to the cultivation protection monitor, the biocides administration and the return of expired products.

Twice on report
In addition, there were still two companies where enforcement action was taken. This means that a report of findings has been drawn up by the inspectors. A written warning was also issued once, because the company had not had its affairs in order according to regulations. An administrative fine may be imposed on the basis of a report of findings.

High recovery rate
Although the final picture of 93 percent compliance produces a positive picture, the NVWA finds the number of companies that had to repair deficiencies quite high. The NVWA is therefore exploring possibilities to increase awareness of the administrative obligations among growers.

Source: Nederlandse Voedsel- en Waren Authoriteit (NVMA), in DUTCH.

The organizer of the Exhibition-Conference is UMDIS Mushroom Information Agency of Eastern Europe.
The event was sponsored by Agaris, Amycel, Agro-Project, World of Straw, Mexeo, Mushroom Team, Vierrebi, Alpie, DMP, GTL Europe, Hoving Holland.

This time Ukrainian Mushroom Days brought together not only Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian farms – but delegations from the largest farms in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, becoming an industry event not only for Eastern Europe, but also for Central Asia.
The event gathered 350 people from 20 countries!
There were 55 companies-exhibitors and the program of Conference combined 27 speakers, two great discussions with Monterey and Mushroom Council.

Please click here to get an impression of the event.