When choosing a mushroom picking trolley, it is worth paying attention to those elements of its construction that will affect the comprehensive picking of mushrooms from each shelf of the shelving.

Including the bottom and top shelves of the shelving, access to which is usually a bit more difficult due to their location. So what is worth paying attention to when choosing a trolley?

One comprehensive trolley or an additional one?

As producers of mushroom farm equipment, we often encounter a situation where two types of mushroom picking trolleys work in parallel in a mushroom farm:
● one, used for picking starting from the second / third shelf to the last shelf of the shelving
● second, the low one, used only for picking from the bottom shelf.

Comprehensive trolleys, i.e. those that can easily handle picking from the entire height of the shelving, have an advantage for several reasons:

● along the entire length of the shelving, it is much easier to move with one trolley than to struggle with the necessity of avoiding and maneuvering two trolleys
● trolleys are devices that need to be serviced, and it is less time-consuming and more profitable to service one device than two, and it saves space when it is necessary to move them out
● however, work time savings, people's efficiency and ergonomics are crucial: naturally, with a good picking organization, we will need fewer people to pick in a given time (comprehensive trolley).

Ergonomics, ergonomics and ergonomics once again...

Before choosing the right mushroom picking trolley, it is worth comparing the physical qualities of the trolley, including:

● appropriate construction and location of the seat so that the physical work of the picker is as little tiring as possible
● distance from scales, containers and remote control / control panel so that the number of unnecessary movements is limited to the maximum
● lighting on the trolley mounted in a way that allows good lighting of each shelf of the shelving, both in a sitting and standing position
● the possibility of adjusting individual structural elements of the trolley, among others for people of different heights.

Minimum height of platform lowering / lifting

It is worth paying attention to the maximum and minimum height of the trolley:
● some of the trolleys available on the market do not allow the platform to be lowered to such a low height that picking mushrooms from the bottom shelf is actually efficient or physically possible at all, and not in name only.
● there are also trolleys whose maximum platform height is not sufficient in relation to the height of the shelving, especially when the picker is rather short.

Summary

From our experience, the key factor in choosing a mushroom farm trolley should be aspects related to the ergonomics and construction of the trolley - so as to enable comprehensive and efficient picking from the entire height of the shelving (including the bottom and top shelves).
The best solutions are usually more expensive than the underdeveloped counterparts of other suppliers, but in the long term, they will provide much higher profitability, and real return on investment (low maintenance costs), because the key cost of the mushroom farm is people's work, and thanks to the right solutions we can ensure they are less fatigued and, consequently, more productive, leading to higher profitability of the mushroom farm.

About the author:
GROWTIME is an international manufacturer of mushroom growing farm equipment.
GROWTIME specializes in the production of mushroom picking trolleys, with the focus on increasing the harvesting efficiency thanks to the solutions used in them. See the company's offer at growtime.eu.