The farm which buys 450 tons of compost from CNC every week is situated in Netherlands – they produce just white button mushrooms. The farm asked not to tell its name – and talled UMDIS lots about Dutch mushroom business. UMDIS Mushroom Agency visited this farm in the end of the last year.
– We are for a very long time on the market. When we started in 1988 there was 1200 farms in Holland. And now there are 70. The whole time they stop operation.
– Tell me if I’m wrong, but as I understand small farms are going out of the market?
– Yes, small old farms which do not want to invest. But actually, if you are really small – that’s OK. If you’re in between big and small – you’ve a problem because you can’t compete with the small farms having just some employees. And with big farms which have the newest technology. You see that most farms that stopped were in between big and small. The small ones can do a lot by themselves. They don’t need many employees – and survive.
– Can I ask you what in your opinion is a small, middle, and large farm for Netherlands now?
– I think small is less than 20 tonnes of mushrooms in a week. Between 20 and 30 tonnes are middle. More than 30 tonnes we can consider as large.
– Why you chose white mushrooms and not brown to grow?
– We had one fabric where we made brown mushrooms for one year. With brown mushrooms that is very difficult in terms of price. You have a period when price is very good – and then you have a period when it is very bad. Brown mushrooms are seasonable. Product for fall and winter. But not for the spring and summer. However, this summer you were able to get high price – but anyway with white button mushrooms it is much more stable.
– So, tell me the secret. How to become successful mushroom farms as yours?
– Paitience. You need to be able to work every day for 35 years – every single day. I started in mushrooms when I was 16 – I just started not going to school, but going to the mushroom farm which was near to school. I was filling rooms; I was picking mushrooms and in 22 I started my own fabric.
– How many rooms was at that time and how many you have got now?
– I started with 4 – and now have 44. Some of them are smaller as they are older ones – new are larger.
– Tell me how your working day looks like?
– I get up at 5:30 – and I am on the farm at 6 am. And finish at 5, at 6, at 7 or at 8 pm in the evening. It depends. I have lots of hobbies besides fabric, and I manage to have time for them of course. But yeah, I love it – to do mushrooms.
– Why you buy compost from CNC compost yard?
– Yeah, because that’s good. The price and the quality. We take two flashes and have 28 kilogrammes per m2. Also, it is about relations – they gave me a good contract, so I said yes. I now need 450 tons every week and order compost just from CNC. I like that the quality is stable.
– Do you have help from CNC in terms of technological advises if you have some troubles?
– In Netherlands we have a study club that me and other growers attend, and that’s also people from CNC there. In this club or in private on the telephone I can ask them to come and look if I have an issue.
– You sell mushrooms by yourself?
– Right. On summer mostly loose – in fall more packed. We supply to the supermarkets – but in fact we have lots of other clients as well. Our mushrooms we sell in Europe – Holland, France, Scandinavia.
– When you load the room – you know who will be the buyer of these mushrooms?
– Not really. I believe 60% of our mushrooms we know – and 40% go to the clients who order on more short notice.
Want to ask the pricing for CNC compost yard in Netherlands? They are the largest European supplier and sell compost worldwide.
Want to ask the pricing for CNC compost yard in Netherlands? They are the largest European supplier and sell compost worldwide.
CNC Grondstoffen BV
Accountmanager
T +31 (0) 653881780
E s.hoeve@cnc.nl
