Quite a while ago Walkro organized a study trip to France and asked EuroMycel to help in this. Unfortunately due to the Covid restrictions the trip had to be delayed until further notice. Then finally the journey took off on September 22nd!

The study trip lasted from September 22nd to September 25th and the program was fully packed with interesting company visits, presentations and amongst learning from each other, a lot of pleasure together. Walkro, the initiator of this study trip, gathered a number of sponsors to get the program well organized.
Sponsors were: Christiaens Group, MC Substradd, Legro, Gicom, Sylvan and Walkro.

On Wednesday September 22nd the group that consisted of Dutch growers, sponsors and organizers, travelled to the Bonduelle facilities in Estrees-Mons by bus. They received a tour in the fields of the Bonduelle yellow beans and visited their factory.

On Thursday morning a visit to the Bonduelle Compost & Yield in La Tourte was scheduled. This was quite interesting especially for Walkro, because here they saw how colleagues work with the same product.
In the afternoon the study group was invited by EuroMycel on their premises. The tour facilitator was Frédéric Mathieu, operational director EuroMycel, and Yves & Rémy of the lab, they are very important for the Operational team. Also Jeroen Dunant, our sales manager, who is our eyes and ears in the field and helps us expand with new customers and in new countries. The tour was received with a lot of enthusiasm! The group was pleasantly surprised and impressed by Euromycel's way of working, given the fact that they are a relatively new player in the industry. Also sharing knowledge amongst colleagues who work with the same products, was well respected.

Photo to the right:

From left to right below:
Frederic Mathieu, Jeroen Dunant, Eddy Alkemade

From left to right above:
Yves Moriamez, Evert Jan Mink, Remy Maufrand

EuroMycel took the whole group on an eventful evening program, which took place in the Caves Angelliaume. Cave Painctes in Chinon. They were welcomed by gentlemen holding the title “Confrérie des Entonneurs Rabalaisiens”. In English “Brotherhood of Rabalaisien Entonneurs”.
Dinner was accompanied by a wine arrangement and theatre performance. There was also a surprise for several people who got acknowledged for some special activities in the Mushroom Industry.
 

Interesting cultural and historical fact to mention is that the location of EuroMycel, L`Ile Bouchard in the Loire region, is well known for the combination of wine and mushrooms. Hence the set-up of the evening program. The wine was produced on the land and the mushrooms in the caves, the name Champignon de Paris stems from this fact.


On Friday 24^th, the group left for Saumur and Paris to spend some time in the ‘City of light’!
The study group packed their luggage for their journey back home. And not only with what they came with, but also with many new and interesting experiences!

The whole Walkro group at the wine tasting facility
at Caves Angelliaume. Cave Painctes in Chinon”

Bright 5
Bright 5 was founded about a year ago. This unique collaboration between growers, companies, education and government represents five sectors with a strong base in the Southeast Netherlands: blueberries, strawberries, asparagus, mushrooms and arboriculture.
Bright 5 is a project in which five sectors initiate, implement and share cultivation-related innovation for five years by the entrepreneurs themselves. Centrally located in the region, from Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo, Bright 5 brings together more than 180 entrepreneurs and creates crossovers within the five sectors in the field of research and innovations in green crop protection, vital soil, big data, vital plant, residual flows and cultivation-related ingredients. The unique collaboration between growers, companies, education and government takes research & development to a higher level, strengthens the position of the five sectors and brings innovation back to the region.

Study Club Mushrooms
Partly due to the disappearance of the product boards and the Mushroom Cultivation Test Station, the mushroom sector is in need of collective research.
Thus, March 4, 2020, the Study Club Champignons has been formalized. This is a study group of 5 enthusiastic mushroom growers from Limburg and Brabant (Dennis Cox - Cox Champignons, Robbert Jacobs - Jacobs Champignons, John Jacobs - Champignonkwekerij Jacobs, Pieter van den Boomen - Champignonkwekerij Gemert and Thijs Claassen - Claassen Champignons), which serve as a sounding board to carry out practical, applied research in the mushroom sector.
Participant Dennis Cox of Cox Champignons explains: "Innovation is a precondition for a company to maintain its value."

Studies
The following 4 studies will be started in 2020:
- Alternative to formalin (vital soil)
- Biological control of mushroom fly and mosquito (green crop protection)
- Biological control moles (vital plant)
- Re-use champost (value residual flows)

Field trips
In addition, 4 excursions are organized at different companies on the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. Through these excursions, the study group is inspired and included in the objectives of the campus in the field of healthy food, future farming and bio-circular economy.