Mushroom sector on the brink of transformation

Every single mushroom grown in Ireland today is harvested by hand. Those hands are becoming increasingly difficult to source, resulting in mushroom producers seriously considering automation. The first tentative steps are already underway, and the Irish sector looks poised to undergo a radical transformation.

Automated or semi-automated systems will either replace or compliment human workforce in harvesting mushrooms in the next five years, according to Donal Gernon, Teagasc Mushroom Adviser.

Donal was one of the organisers behind a seminar at Teagasc Ashtown where growers could learn about systems from leading mushroom automation companies.

Irish, Belgian and Dutch companies outlined how their systems could meet the growers’ needs.

“Some of the semi-automated systems presented at the seminar are already on farms in Europe and in Canada, so we’re already familiar with a lot of them,” acknowledged Donal. “What we’re not familiar with is the robotics - that is ground-breaking technology. But I do envisage there will be trials of robotics in Ireland probably within the next 12-18 months, which is really positive and exciting.”

Mushroom harvesters mightn’t share this “positive and exciting” view if they are to face redundancy. The Celt asked Donal about the human cost of any switch towards automation.

“I don’t really see it being an issue in that first of all growers are probably going to slowly integrate semi-automated or fully automated systems on their farm. It’s going to be a very slow process. It will probably get to the stage where a robot might just replace a harvester that a grower can’t get.

“You will probably have some element of semi-automated systems working side by side with harvesters, but it’s not a concern I would have because we simply can’t get staff to do the existing jobs.”

The conventional harvesting system requires quite a few steps from picking the mushroom with one hand to then trimming the stalk, placing them in a punnet, weighing and labelling the punnet, and placing the punnet into a crate.

“The semi automated systems basically allow for two handed picking onto a conveyor which will then take them off to a system that will trim the stalk and place the mushrooms into a punnet and weigh the punnet and send it to a pack house,” explains Donal.

That will result in significant labour saving.

“It will essentially remove 50% of your mushroom harvesters, which is a massive step.”

A fully automated system would see a robot take all of the same steps from picking the mushroom through to sending the punnet to the pack house.

“That isn’t as fully developed as the semi-automated systems. It’s very exciting and there’s a lot of growers interested in it, but a lot of growers are waiting for the first grower to be the guinea pig.”

Donal explains that semi-automated systems will likely be compatible with fully automated. This would give assurance that any initial investment in a semi-automatic system would remain in use even if there is a further move to full automation.

Something consumers may not have considered is how mushrooms are placed in the punnet. Have a look the next time you browse the shelves and the uniformity of cuts raised to the top will quickly confirm Donal’s point that producers give this a lot of thought.

“You might think it’s very small but for the industry it’s a very important consideration. I wouldn’t underestimate it.

“There’s so many small intricate challenges associated with all the systems and that’s why growers are hesitant about fully going into one system.”

He admits it’s hard to predict what way the sector will choose, but suspects they will have “a combination of maybe one or two systems on farms in the future”.

Automation is just the latest challenge facing a sector that is already unrecognisable from the one which took root in Ireland three to four decades ago.

“Going back 30 years we had over 1,000 mushroom growers in the country. We’re down now to just 28 growers left in the Republic of Ireland, but we’re still producing the same volume of mushrooms with those 28 growers. As of 2023 there was 68,000 tonne of mushrooms produced in the Republic of Ireland.”

Of those 28 growers, five are based in County Cavan and account for 8,900 tonne of mushrooms per year; which equates to 13% of total mushrooms produced in Republic of Ireland annually.

The labour intensive aspect of the industry has been one key factor in the ever increasing concentration of production in fewer hands.

Initially for farmers with a small plot of land mushrooms became a viable option as a “side gig” in the late 1980s.

“Over the years to stay viable growers had to expand their farms and that meant you had to spend money. On the other hand you had - [growers wonder] ‘where am I going to get the actual staff to pick these mushrooms?’”

On the flip side, rather than closing shop other growers instead doubled down and invested in expansion. Around the early 2000s they switched from what was called phase two compost grown on blocks to phase three compost grown on multiple layers of ‘Dutch shelving’.

Those who had been unwilling to invest in the Dutch shelving gradually left the sector. When Sterling weakened after Brexit, the latest batch of growers parted ways.

Labour continues to be a key input in the mushroom sector, representing on average 44% of total input costs. Traditionally the industry depended on an Eastern European labour force, people from countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. In more recent times workers have come from southern Europe such as Romania and Bulgaria.

“Those labour markets are drying up - there is simply not enough people coming from those countries any more.”

While Donal says that mushroom harvesting offers a good working environment where you can sit or stand in comfort, he admits “it’s not the most glamorous job”.

He suspects economies in eastern and southern Europe are performing better or, staff here can get more attractive jobs in Ireland. Either way he observes that almost every other sector in Ireland is in “the same boat” when it comes to labour supply issues.

“Growers are saying ‘It’s getting to a stage where I can’t get my own crops harvested because I don’t have labour.’ Basically their hand has been forced to automate.”

The Celt notes this move to automation still seems very futuristic.

“It is very futuristic, but it is absolutely necessary. There is no alternative.”

Given there’s no alternative then growers will have to turn to their bank managers. Donal detailed the limited funding available through two schemes to mushroom producers who do want to upgrade their systems.

“Say if every grower in Ireland in the morning wanted to automate, it would probably take the guts of €250m to fully automate the system. Both those funds, it’s great to have them but they are not going to bridge the gap,” he suggests.

Donal fully expects this pressure to invest will lead to an even further concentration of the mushroom sector.

“I have no doubt about it - it’s going to happen.

“If you are going to make an investment like that you are really tying yourself to the business for the next 10 years. So you will see a cohort of growers who will say: I’m going to close.

“But there are a good strong cohort of growers, new growers, entering the business open to the idea of automating and willing to spend money. “

It seems growers acknowledge what lies ahead in terms of automation. When organising the seminar, Donal had considered if he had 40 people attend - representing each of the growers in the whole island - that would have been a huge success.

“There were 110 people there,” he enthused. “It just goes to show there is a serious level of interest. There is a lot of young growers coming through, it’s a very exciting sector and it’s always evolving.

“I see a bright future for it. Even though we will have less growers, the existing growers will actually expand and push on again.”