"The younger generation is more willing to try different kinds of mushrooms, especially chestnut mushrooms," Christine van Steenkiste began. She is the chair of the Tomabel Mushroom Working Group. The Belgian REO Veil Auction will supply a variety of products under the name of Tomabel. These include tomatoes, strawberries and mushrooms. Chestnut mushrooms are more expensive, but they are worth it.

"These mushrooms taste better and have a stronger texture. They have a longer shelf life than white mushrooms." Twelve growers produce mushrooms for the Tomabel label. Most of them grow organic chestnut mushrooms. These farmers have changed from white mushrooms to chestnut mushrooms. Christine explained that this was a conscious choice. She also grows chestnut mushrooms.

"These are relatively small farmers with high cost prices. They are struggling in the white mushroom market. That's when you start looking for other things." She said that this is a good move. In the past six years, the demand for chestnut mushrooms has grown significantly. Christine expects this expansion to continue, but not so strongly. "I think there can still be a little growth at this level."

The demand for exotic mushrooms is also rising. "The market is growing, albeit at a slow rate. But the demand is there, and it will continue." That's why in addition to oyster mushrooms, Tomabel also offers a variety of exotic mushrooms. The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected demand. "In the first wave, the demand for organic mushrooms was suddenly great. We usually gradually reduce planting after Easter. Not in 2020; we can't keep up with the demand. There is some additional demand this year, but not so much."

Organic mushrooms are also getting more and more attention. "People want to respect nature more." All 12 Tomabel mushroom growers produce organic mushrooms. Christine also switched to organic mushrooms. She marked this step—from traditional mushroom cultivation—without using a lot of pesticides anyway—as small.

"I rarely use crop protection products. So, I don't think the steps towards organic will be too great." However, organic mushroom cultivation poses challenges. The substrate is mainly made of horse manure and straw. "And we need organic horse manure. This is an expensive and sometimes limited raw material." However, Van Steenkiste does not see this as a disadvantage.

"There will never be a large amount of these raw materials. Therefore, there will be no surplus of organic mushrooms, which keeps the market quite balanced." Due to the raw materials, the whole process is before the organic mushrooms are grown. Christine said this is beyond the control of the grower. "Organic farmers have clean soil that they must obtain and maintain. But we must rely on the compost we receive."

Local costs are the main reason that forces growers to switch from white mushrooms to chestnut mushrooms. However, according to Christine, the price of organic chestnuts is also under increasing pressure. “However, Belgian supermarkets still need local products and want to pay a fair price for them.” Tomabel mushrooms are mainly sold in local stores and to a lesser extent in smaller organic stores. Currently, Belgian organic mushroom growers have not yet encountered competition from Eastern Europe.

But Christine expects that the increase in price pressure may affect the import of organic mushrooms from other places. Packaging is one of the reasons for the rising pressure. There is an increasing demand for more expensive packaging. This is made of completely compostable pulp board. "This is a different kind of packaging. There are fewer mushrooms in a box. So, you need more pallets, which increases shipping costs," she concluded.

Tomabel Oostnieuwkerkesteenweg 101 B-8800 Roeselare 0477 33 04 47 of 0498 93 16 31 info@tomabel.be www.tomabel.be 

Publication date: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 Author: Martine van der Wekken © FreshPlaza.com

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