On companies that are trying to reduce costs changing picking tactics appears to be very successful. By selective harvesting and only picking those mushrooms that must be removed from the beds picking costs are reduced mushroom quality improves as does the yield per m².
AdVisie have already introduced this method in various countries. Along the way it has picked up the name “graze picking”. However this method only stands a real chance of success if the corresponding administrative tasks are completed properly. It’s essential to know which picker harvests how many mushrooms per hour of which quality and in which growing room.
Optimal results could be achieved if the source bed and how many mushrooms per m² the particular picker cropped from that bed are registered too. Only then does the grower have a complete insight into the cost price and can see if the picking performance improves. For this registration system it’s necessary to identify which mushrooms a picker has harvested as they exit the growing room.
A simple system counting coloured cards is a good start but a system using barcodes in the punnets or containers linked to a hour registration system gives a more accurate idea of the cost price per kilo. To keep ahead of the competitors permanent up to date insight into the cost price is a must for each company.
Henk van Gerwen, AdVisie ‘The mushroom cultivation advisors’
