The Dutch company 'PrimeChamp' only has one establishment in Southern Germany in Laichingen. The branch was opened last January and from here all of southern Germany is supplied.
PrimeChamp grow white and brown mushrooms on an area of 9,680 m2. The mushrooms with a diameter of 1.5 to 8cm grow very well in the areas of a former butchery. Rob van Dieten, who assisted in the establishment of the company in Laichingen, explains. The production increased from 15 tons per week at the start to 100 tons per week in the meantime.
The mushrooms grow in aluminium trays, close together and in groups. With trained eyes the female pickers, most of the time women from Poland, harvest the mushrooms. They stand on special picking carts, with which they roll via rails past the stacked trays. "They pick the larger mushrooms from the groups, so that the smaller ones have space to grow" the responsible Jutta Thierer explains. "Each mushroom doubles in size within 24 hours," as per Thierer. "The trick is not to pick too many or too few mushrooms" manager Rolf Thierer adds.