There is a global trend visible also in Hungary that large mushroom farms expand – and many smaller ones (including those in caves, popular for Hungary) leaving the market. In the Budapest area, there are mushroom farms located in caves that were created because the stones from there were used to build the city itself. Mushrooms were grown in many of such caves for years. Currently, the profitability of such mushroom farms is declining and they by degrees close.For example, recently UMDIS was invited to visit a small but modern mushroom farm near Bedapest. It consists of 6 modern cultivation growing rooms, the name of the farm is Dofe. The cultivation area of each room is 518m2. The project was built and equipped by the Dutch company Christiaens, everything from the head filling machine to the computers and picking trolleys here are made by this company.

In Hungary large compost producers are BioFungi, Corona and Boglar. For instance, Hungarian Dofe farm runs on phase 3 compost from BioFungi – in bulk. The casing soil is from Dutch company Legro, that is quite interesting regarding that it looks like Polish casing could be cheaper to deliver here.

Mushroom yield reported here varies between 25 and 31 kg per m2 – harvested from two flashes. The first flush is being harvested for 3-5 days.

– We only collect two flashes. I will explain why. We have very expensive energy to make cooking. Thanks to the fact that we do not collect the third flash – it is easier to maintain hygiene, – such explanation we receive on the farm. And as UMDIS` readers know – that is quit similar logic as in Poland where lots of farms also stop picking the last flash.

As we write in the beginning – that is hard for small mushroom farms to survive – you either should get bigger, change your business to exotics, or close. So Dofe is a nice example of the farm seeing this alternative and choosing the way to expand – in the near future they want to enlarge the production.