Like that old complaint about being treated like mushrooms:
Wrong. And wrong.
Good says mushrooms don't grow in manure, and they don't need darkness. He ought to know. He and his wife, Chantelle, grow a million pounds every year at Whitecrest Mushroom Farm southeast of London.
..
But "farm" doesn't really capture the Whitecrest operation. It looks more like an industrial plant churning out the mushrooms with startling efficiency -- just five weeks from spore to mushroom.
..
Big front-end loaders are dumping the growing material into large steel pans that are hoisted into racks into one of seven growing rooms. Each room is at a different growth stage and pickers are plucking the mushrooms ready for harvest.
They are packaged and shipped out to be on store shelves in the London area the next day.
..
Whitecrest produces portobello, portobellini and crimini mushrooms, prized for their flavour. The three varieties are actually the same species: brown agaricus. The different names reflect the stage at which they are picked, with the small beige crimini being the youngest.
..
The farm on Cromarty Drive, near Putnam, was established in the mid-1980s and the Goods took it over in 2001. Murray Good grew up on a farm near Plattsville, northeast of Woodstock, and started out working for Alpine Plant Foods. Good said he wanted to get back into farming and mushrooms looked interesting.
..
"It's a fast learning curve. Every five weeks, you get to know what you did right or wrong," he said.
..
The farm employs 24 people, including 16 harvesters. As part of the deal, they took on farm manager Kevin Bosley, who taught the Goods the techniques of mushroom growing. With additional investment to upgrade the equipment, he estimated the operation is worth about $2 million.
..
Good said it's true that decades ago, horse manure was used to grow mushrooms. But even then, it was composted to create a much more pleasant growing material.
..
These days, Whitecrest grows mushrooms grown in a bed, or substrate, of partially-composted wheat straw with small amounts of gypsum and nitrogen added.
..
The substrate is pasteurized in two stages through a natural composting process.
The wheat straw is the perfect growing medium for the mushroom fungus whose job in nature is to break down the cellulose fibre in trees and plants.
..
"That's their whole job. They are nature's recycler of cellulose," said Good.
Once the growing medium is ready, mushroom spawn, the equivalent of seed, is added.
..
A mature mushroom will produce as many as 16 billion spores. Spores are collected in a sterile environment of a laboratory, then embedded on grains or seeds to produce the spawn. The spawn grows through the substrate into lacy white filaments called mycelium.
..
A layer of peat moss is spread on top and tiny "pins" poke up, growing into the mushrooms that are actually the fruit of the fungus. Getting the mushroom to pop up is quite a trick that requires precise watering and temperatures varying between 13 and 18 Celsius.
..
"We trick them into reproducing by creating the condition of a cool fall day so they fruit and drop their spores," said Good.
..
Water and air going into the growing rooms is purified with ozone and filtered to prevent foreign spores from contaminating the growing beds.
Ozone purification also avoids the use of chemicals, allowing the farm to achieve its organic certification.
..
"Everything has to be clean, clean, clean. That's how it is in mushroom farming," said Good.
..
Carbon dioxide produced by the growing process has to be vented out. The growing rooms are dimly lit, not to promote growth, just to save energy.
..
Each room has 264 square metres of growing room times for a total of 1,800 sq. m. Good is always working to speed up the cycle of growth through careful manipulation of the growing conditions.
..
Two years ago, he cut the seven-week growing cycle to six weeks and is now down to five weeks. By contrast, some U.S. growers are still on a 10-week cycle.
Good is hoping to get down to four weeks, but that will be tricky without sacrificing quality, he said.
..
After picking, mushrooms are packaged on site and distributed through Toronto-based Windmill Farms. Windmill Farms also produces white mushrooms to supply major supermarket chains. There are only about 60 mushroom farms in Canada.
Good said Canadian farms generally only produce fresh mushrooms, because the canned market has been captured by Chinese producers, who have much lower labour costs.
..
Two years ago Whitecrest Farms branched out into retail and agri-tourism by opening a small retail store. The store sells mushroom patties, marinated mushrooms and breaded mushrooms.
..
Another product is the Teeny-Tiny mushroom farm for kids. All the growing material and spawn is packed in a styrofoam container, so kids can cultivate and eat their own crop of mushrooms.
..
Good also conducts tours of the mushroom operation and mushroom expert Rex Bartlett conducts hunts for wild mushrooms in the area. The operation is also branching out to the kiwi business. A few years ago, Chantelle spotted an article about the Arctic (also spelled Artic) kiwi, a hardy variety that can grow in Southwestern Ontario.
..
The fruit is the size of a small plum and has a smooth skin, unlike the New Zealand variety. Chantelle planted the first vines in 2007 but the crop was damaged by frost. The kiwi plants take several years to mature and first full harvest is expected in 2011.
..
In the meantime, Good is watching his mushrooms pop up and extolling their nutritional quality.
..
He said they are rich in potassium and anti-oxidants and produce their own vitamin D. The mushroom is also prized by chefs for its ability to absorb flavours.
But Goods admits that to some kids -- and even some adults -- the humble mushroom can be a tough sell.
..
"I think it's a texture thing. You either love or you hate them. Nobody is in the middle."
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan