For decades, mushroom growers have dreamed of robots replacing capricious mushroom pickers. Last year, these dreams began to come true—just slightly, but the trend is visible. Companies like Christiaens, TLT, 4AG, GTL, and others are offering tools for automation or partial automation of mushroom harvesting. Some solutions, like the robot from 4AG, resemble a direct replacement for humans on conventional farms, while others, such as those from Christiaens, advocate for a fundamental rethinking of farm design to focus on robotics.
Comparing the cost of robots to human labor is challenging, but one thing is clear: If the cost of a robot that replaces a worker equals the cost of employing that worker, mushroom growers will eagerly make the switch.
Let’s hypothesize that a “robot” can harvest mushrooms at the same rate as an average picker, 25 kg per hour, but works a shift that is 2.5 times longer—20 hours. Over a year, this robot would harvest approximately 120 tons of mushrooms (assuming it spends a third of the time idle because there’s nothing to pick).
Global mushroom harvesting
How many mushrooms are harvested worldwide? Let’s exclude China—it’s anyone’s guess how many mushrooms, and of what type, are grown there. The rest of the world produces about 2.4 million tons, with Europe accounting for 1.3 million tons, and the Americas about 1 million tons. Asia (excluding China) and Australia contribute the remainder.
Europe and America are likely contenders for adopting robots. Dividing 2.3 million tons by 120 tons per robot, we arrive at an estimate of 19,000 robots.
Robot costs and viability
How much would growers be willing to pay for such robots? It depends on their lifespan—let’s assume 5 years. Considering labor costs in Europe (including expenses like uniforms) are around €30,000 per worker annually, a robot that is 2.5 times more productive, complaint-free but requiring maintenance, could be sold in the range of €150,000–€250,000. Alternatively, financing could be arranged, bringing the total cost over five years to €200,000–€350,000 per robot.
Thus, the market would require 19,000 robots (hypothetically!), priced at €200,000 each, with a lifespan of 5 years. This means the annual replacement demand would be around 4,000 units for Europe and America combined, equating to a total market size of approximately €800 million per year.
A growing market
This figure represents the entire potential market for robotization, excluding China but including all harvesting in Europe and America. Some of this market will be absorbed by conceptually new farms where robots won’t resemble single-armed human replacements but could feature 10 manipulators harvesting 200 kg per hour. In other regions with lower labor costs, the adoption of robots will remain a potential opportunity for some time.
It’s also likely that robots will soon compete not with humans but with other robots, driving prices down. Additionally, as their lifespan increases, the total market value will shrink further.
But for now, let’s assume the robot harvesting market stands at €800 million annually and compare it with other “mushroom” markets:
| Market | Millions (€) |
|---|---|
| Mushrooms | €4,080.00 |
| Compost | €1,440.00 |
| Spawn | €96.00 |
| Robots | €800.00 |
The robot market will likely surpass the spawn market by 2–8 times in the future, be 2–3 times smaller than the compost market, and represent an impressive 10–20% of the mushroom market itself.
In short, the prospects are excellent, but the space under this robotic sun will be dominated by a few companies that can deliver the most efficient solutions.
Meanwhile, the most pressing task remains ensuring you have enough funds to purchase these robots. To achieve this, join us at our courses, where we’ll teach you how to grow and harvest mushrooms with exceptional yields. Our courses start in February—find more information on our website.
