Automation in the fresh produce industry is making great progress, but can it be implemented in the mushroom industry?
Alan Edwards from The Game Changer mushroom machine is doing just that. "We have been working on a mushroom machine for quite a while; we initially thought it would be a quick process, but it turned out to be more complicated than we'd expected. The reason is that there are so many different types of infrastructure on mushroom farms, such as low and high shelves, old circular tunnels, and new factory styles. Mushrooms may be big or small, and there are a multitude of different punnet sizes, boxes, and trays, and the machine has to be easily cleaned and used reliably every day."
© The Mushroom Machine
Alan started to design the mushroom machine, thinking others would design the lift, but in the end, he designed them both so he could have a fully integrated solution designed for the machine. "The machine has to be able to work as well on the 5th or 6th levels as it does on the first shelf. The lift also needs to have extra space for the machine, empty and full crates, and for the picker while catering for narrow aisles."
Different challenges
He travelled around the world looking at different challenges faced by different growers and tried to work out solutions.
These were the practical challenges, but Alan said that another big challenge was that people generally, including farm managers and pickers, don't want to change. They are comfortable with the old way of doing things and actively resist any change. Some see this as a way for producers to reduce staff rather than a way for the business to remain competitive.
How it works
The machine cuts the stalks, places the mushrooms in the punnet with the correct presentation, and at the same time, weighs the punnet. All the picker has to do is pick the mushroom and place it on the belt, so instead of using one hand to pick and one to cut, the picker can use two hands to pick, which increases their speed while also reducing the tasks they have to do.
"The machine can cut the stalk with precision, which can increase yield by 5% for the grower and ensures a good cut every time. Another advantage is that the picker can graze the crop, only selecting the bigger mushrooms, giving the smaller mushrooms time and room to grow; this also increases yield. Using this 'crop grazing' technique, yield can be improved by up 20% even on a 3rd flush. Fully trained pickers can easily double their speed within weeks, and new pickers achieve economic picking rates in weeks, not months, as is common in the industry."
Accurate weighing further reduces time in the packhouse, and the excellent presentation of the mushrooms should aid sales, especially in the retail outlets.
Return on investment
At a cost of £35,000 per machine, the return on investment is relatively fast. "We calculate it as a year's wages for a picker. If you run it for two shifts per day, then it will, of course, be faster. There is also the advantage that you can buy one machine at a time, so there is not a massive investment needed.
There are videos of the machines in operation at www.mushroommachine.co.uk/videos/
For more information:
Alan Edwards
The Game Changer
Tel: +44 28 9252 8488
Email: [email protected]
