By Stefan Glibetic, Founder of Mycionics

For years, agricultural robotics was something the industry believed was just around the corner. Demonstrations appeared at trade shows, prototypes showed promising results, and early pilot projects hinted at what might eventually be possible. But widespread adoption remained limited.

Today, that situation is changing.

According to Stefan Glibetic, founder of Mycionics, the industry is now experiencing a rare convergence of forces that is pushing agricultural robotics from experimentation into real deployment. “We are experiencing a perfect storm where the technology is ready, the market is primed, and industry pressure is forcing farms to take calculated risks on automation.”

Technology has matured. Labour pressures continue to intensify. And the economics of automation are starting to make sense for real farms. Together, these factors are creating a moment that many growers feel is fundamentally different from anything the industry has seen before.

From fragile prototypes to farm-ready robotics

Only a few years ago, many agricultural robots struggled to survive outside controlled demonstrations. Machines could scan crops or perform basic harvesting tasks, but they were often too fragile or too complex to operate reliably in real production environments.

Mushroom farms are particularly demanding environments. High humidity, fluctuating temperatures and constant production pressure quickly expose weaknesses in delicate electronics and mechanical systems.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in recent years was not a new algorithm or a faster robot arm, but a shift in design philosophy. “The real breakthrough was making robotics farm-friendly. The machines had to survive real mushroom farms.”

Instead of trying to replicate every aspect of human behaviour in a single machine, robotics developers began focusing on systems that could perform specific tasks reliably within the realities of farm operations.

As a result, modern robotic systems are increasingly modular, rugged and easier for farm staff to maintain themselves. At the same time, they are being designed to integrate with both existing infrastructures and new facilities built specifically with automation in mind.

Early adopters also played a crucial role in this transition. A small group of growers were willing to invest in the technology before it was fully mature, helping developers refine their systems and prove that robotic harvesting could operate at real production speeds.

As those systems began working reliably on farms, skepticism in the industry gradually faded.

Labour pressure is reshaping the industry

Labour shortages are often described as the main driver behind agricultural automation. In reality, the problem runs deeper than a simple shortage of workers.

Mushroom harvesting is physically demanding work. Workers spend long hours bending over beds, harvesting quickly while maintaining quality, often in environments with high humidity and fluctuating temperatures. The work places strain on the body and requires sustained concentration.

As wages rise and workforce stability becomes less predictable, growers are facing a structural challenge. “The labour model itself is becoming unstable,” says Glibetic. “The margins of mushroom production simply cannot keep up with continuously rising labour costs for a job that fewer people want to do.”

Automation offers a different approach. Rather than eliminating human labour entirely, robotics allows farms to redistribute work.

Robots can perform repetitive tasks such as harvesting similar-sized mushrooms continuously and consistently. Human workers can then focus on tasks that require judgement, adaptability and crop knowledge, such as thinning, crop separation and yield optimisation.

Why mushrooms may lead the automation shift

Among agricultural sectors, mushroom production may be particularly well suited for early robotics adoption.

Unlike many crops, mushrooms are grown indoors and produced year-round. Farms operate twenty-four hours a day across all seasons, allowing robotic systems to be used continuously and improving their economic return.

In addition, many mushroom farms already operate within highly structured infrastructures. Dutch aluminium shelving systems, hydraulic lorries and modern drawer-based production systems provide the environmental consistency that robotics requires.

The greatest technological challenge was the crop itself.

Agaricus mushrooms are extremely delicate. Developing vision systems capable of identifying harvest-ready mushrooms and robotic grippers capable of harvesting them without bruising the crop required years of development.

Solving that challenge has made the mushroom industry an important proving ground for agricultural robotics.

Rethinking how farms approach automation

Even when the technology works, adopting robotics requires farms to rethink how their operations are organised.

One common mistake is attempting to fit robotics into existing workflows without adapting the farm environment.

“Automation works best when farms adapt their processes to the strengths of the machines,” says Glibetic. “Trying to force robotics into legacy workflows often creates unnecessary complexity.”

Another misconception is the idea that automation must replace all manual labour immediately.

In practice, many successful deployments start by automating smaller parts of the harvesting process and gradually expanding over time. This step-by-step approach allows farms to build experience while reducing operational risk.

Infrastructure also plays an important role. Older wooden tray systems were never designed with automation in mind. Modern infrastructures such as aluminium shelving or drawer systems allow robotics to operate more efficiently and at lower cost.

The risk of waiting

For growers considering automation, timing is becoming increasingly important.

Historically, technological transitions tend to reward early adopters. Farms that implement automation earlier often gain productivity advantages that translate into stronger margins and greater capacity to reinvest in further improvements.

“In many technology revolutions, the first twenty percent of adopters capture the majority of the long-term value,” says Glibetic.

Early adopters benefit from faster harvesting, improved crop quality and stronger operational efficiency. These advantages generate additional capital that can be reinvested into expansion and technology upgrades.

At the same time, waiting too long may create new challenges. As demand for robotics increases, supply chains for specialised equipment and farm infrastructure may become constrained.

Growers who delay adoption until automation is proven everywhere may find themselves competing for limited installation capacity.

The next phase: data and crop intelligence

Over the next three to five years, automation in mushroom harvesting is likely to expand rapidly, although the pace will vary between farm types.

Newly built drawer farms designed specifically for automation may operate with high levels of robotic harvesting, cutting, packing and conveyance. Existing shelving farms will likely rely more on hybrid systems where robotics and human labour continue to work alongside each other.

But according to Glibetic, the most transformative impact of robotics may not come from the machines themselves. “Robotics doesn’t just harvest mushrooms. It creates ground-truth data about every crop.”

For the first time, farms will be able to capture precise data about mushroom growth, harvest timing and environmental conditions across entire production cycles.

Until now, much of the information flowing through the mushroom industry has been indirect or incomplete. Robotics has the potential to create a closed feedback loop between growers, spawn producers and compost suppliers.

That data could unlock significant improvements in genetics, compost formulation and cultivation strategies.

And if those systems mature as expected, the impact could be substantial.

Glibetic believes the industry has not yet come close to reaching the full biological potential of the Agaricus crop. With better data and improved feedback loops across the supply chain, yield improvements of 20 to 30 percent may become achievable.

If that happens, the robotics transition in mushroom farming will be about more than automation alone. It could fundamentally reshape how the crop is grown and how the industry measures productivity in the years ahead.

If you want to learn more, feel free to contact Stefan Glibetic via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

What’s moving the mushroom industry right now?

The mushroom sector continues to evolve at pace. Automation, labour availability and cost efficiency remain dominant themes, while growers balance innovation with reliability on the farm floor.

Below are a few developments worth watching.

1. Automation: progress, but not autonomy

Robotics in mushroom harvesting keep improving, yet fully autonomous solutions are still limited in peak and variable flush conditions. As a result, more growers are exploring hybrid harvesting models, where technology supports – rather than replaces – skilled labour. The focus is shifting from “full automation” to consistency, ergonomics and uptime.

2. Labour strategy is becoming a technical issue

Labour shortages are no longer just an HR concern. Growers are increasingly looking at technical solutions to:

• reduce physical strain
• stabilise output quality
• make harvesting work more predictable

This is influencing investment decisions in equipment, layout and workflow design.

3. Data-driven growing gains traction

Yield tracking, flush performance analysis and real-time monitoring are becoming standard tools for larger operations. What stands out: growers are less interested in dashboards, and more in actionable insights that support daily decision-making on the farm.

4. Sustainability: from ambition to optimisation

Rather than big sustainability claims, the conversation is moving toward practical optimisation:

• energy efficiency per kg
• smarter use of substrates
• longer equipment lifecycles

Incremental improvements are proving more impactful than radical overhauls.

What to watch next

In the coming months, expect more discussion around:

• hybrid harvesting as a structural solution
• the ROI of semi-automation
• technology that adapts to biological variability, instead of forcing uniformity

We’ll continue to follow these developments closely and share insights that matter to growers, farm managers and technology partners.


Published by Mushroom Matter: connecting the global mushroom community through insight, innovation, and inspiration

GrowTime recently showcased its high-performance automation solutions during the Umdis mushroom cultivation course at the Marczak mushroom farm in Poland.

Participants could see a presentation of GrowTime lorries equipped with the MycoSense Spotlight system working in real conditions on the farm.

A major highlight was the “smart speed control” feature—an intelligent speed management solution developed through close collaboration between the MycoSense and GrowTime teams. This kind of automation is designed to boost productivity while keeping daily operations more predictable and easier to manage.

It also supports a higher level of workplace safety and helps extend equipment durability in demanding farm environments. With better control over production processes, farms can improve efficiency and see a measurable impact on profitability.

Read the full recap and watch the event video in the article here.

Coating Sprayer

Location: The Netherlands
Company: RibbStyle

RibbStyle is looking for a Coating Sprayer to join its growing team. In this role, you apply high-quality coatings in controlled environments, working on both national and international projects.

Profile

• Experience as a sprayer or interest in learning the trade
• Eye for detail and quality
• Willingness to work on international projects

Click here to read more or apply. 

As a mushroom and compost consultant, I receive more questions from clients who have already searched for answers using ChatGPT. Often, they are not looking for a new solution, but for verification of what they have found online. This already shows how widely AI tools are being used in our industry. I use ChatGPT myself on a regular basis. It helps me write reports and articles that are clearer and easier to read, and its English is certainly better than my own “Dunglish” (20% Dutch, 80% English).

For collecting information about composting or growing issues, ChatGPT often provides useful insights. The answers are not always fully correct or directly applicable in practice, but they usually point in the right direction and help identify which area needs further investigation.

Modern mushroom production requires precise control of both composting and growing processes. Small variations in raw materials, fermentation, climate, or handling can have a significant impact on yield and quality.
While practical experience and on-site expertise remain essential, digital tools such as ChatGPT can support growers and consultants with faster analysis and better-structured decision-making. In cooperation with a compost and growing consultant, ChatGPT functions mainly as a knowledge-management and support tool. Combined with biological understanding and field experience, this approach can help improve compost consistency, crop stability, and overall production results.

Total Mushroom Service
Jeroen van lier
( 80%) Chat GPT (20%)

Why collaborative robotics make sense in mushroom production

What happens when humans and robots harvest side by side? Not in theory, but in the real, high-pressure reality of mushroom farms, with variable growth, peak flushes, labour shortages and razor-thin margins.

Hybrid harvesting, also known as collaborative robotics, is gaining ground precisely because it doesn’t pretend farming is predictable. Instead of forcing full automation before the technology or the farm is ready, it offers a practical middle path, robots and people working together, each doing what they do best.

For many growers, that balance is exactly what makes automation finally workable.

Why hybrid harvesting matters right now

There is a growing consensus in the industry that fully autonomous harvesting is not yet a universal answer. Mushrooms don’t grow the same way twice. Flushes vary, beds behave differently, and peak moments can overwhelm even the fastest machines.

At the same time, labour pressure continues to rise. Growers are looking for solutions that reduce dependency on manual labour, without taking on the risk of an all-or-nothing automation leap.

Hybrid harvesting answers that tension. It allows farms to automate step by step, task by task, proving value along the way, while keeping humans involved where flexibility, judgment and backup capacity are essential. In short, it lowers risk, increases resilience, and makes automation adaptable to real farming conditions.

What hybrid harvesting actually means

Mycionics defines hybrid harvesting as giving growers control over how much of the harvesting process is done by robotics and how much by people, and being able to adjust that balance when conditions change.

In practice, many robotic systems can handle around 70 to 80 percent of the physical picking work. But the remaining portion often determines profitability, especially during peak flushes, selective picking moments and quality-critical decisions.

Hybrid systems are designed to absorb those fluctuations. When robots reach their maximum capacity, human pickers can seamlessly augment the process. When labour is scarce, automation takes the lead. The system does not fail when reality deviates from the average.

Designing for reality, not perfection

A key reason Mycionics chose a hybrid path is simple. In complex environments, trying to be cheaper, faster and better at the same time usually leads to compromises elsewhere.

Mushroom harvesting involves thousands of micro-decisions per shift. Where to go on the bed. Which mushrooms are at the right stage. How to pick without damage. Where to place product. How to manage containers and flow.

Humans are strong in judgment and adaptation. Robots excel at consistency, precision and repetition. Hybrid harvesting assigns each role accordingly.

Mycionics’ proprietary vision, decision support and crop-intelligence system identifies mushroom size, predicts growth and determines optimal picking moments. These decisions can then be executed either by robotic arms or by human pickers, removing cognitive load from people while preserving flexibility. The result is faster picking, better timing and more consistent quality.

From scanning to packing, a modular approach

Hybrid harvesting does not start or end with picking.

Pre-harvest scanning maps pinned beds, tracks growth over time and predicts when and where harvesting should begin and how to adjust environmental factors to boost yield. Crop Scout guidance points human pickers to the mushrooms that should be harvested first, eliminating guesswork and increasing efficiency.

Robotic harvesting units mounted on drawers or lorries can handle large volumes, placing mushrooms onto belts, conveyance systems or directly into containers. During short, intense flush periods, humans can work alongside the robots to temporarily increase capacity during separation.

After picking, packing makes up about 50% of the labor cost in harvest. Robotic packing systems automate one of the most labour-intensive stages, improving weight accuracy, reducing giveaway and maintaining best presentation quality – “cheaper faster better”!. Because all modules share the same vision and intelligence backbone, growers can scale gradually, investing when confidence and return on investment make sense.

Measurable impact on farms

Early results in side-by-side comparisons on neighboring beds show why this approach resonates. Where growers are using crop intelligence and guided picking see around 15 percent improvement in labour efficiency and 10 to 15 percent yield improvement through better harvest timing.

With robotic harvesting, up to 75 percent of picking labour can be automated using multi-arm systems, with human support during early separation days to set the bed for full automation. Robotic packing significantly reduces labour demand in a stage that often represents around half of total harvest labour costs.

Beyond the numbers, growers value something less tangible but equally important. Systems that keep working when conditions are not perfect and never tire.

The role of AI, and where humans still matter

Machine vision and AI improve with data. The more cycles a system runs, the more accurate it becomes at recognising patterns, detecting anomalies and recommending actions.

Robots do not get tired or inconsistent. Over time, they become highly precise. Humans, however, still outperform algorithms in contextual judgment, especially when something unexpected happens. Hybrid harvesting acknowledges that reality instead of fighting it.

By collecting data early and continuously, growers build the foundation for smarter automation over time, without betting the farm on day one.

Looking ahead, hybrid as the bridge forward

Over the next three to five years, hybrid harvesting is likely to become the dominant automation model in mushroom production. Not as a compromise, but as a transition strategy that works NOW.

As technology proves itself in the field, confidence grows and returns grow. As confidence and returns grow, automation deepens. The system remains flexible, modular and grounded in farm realities.

The guiding principle remains simple. It has to work.

Born out of mushroom farming itself, Mycionics continues to focus on solutions that deliver value immediately, scale responsibly and strengthen the industry as a whole. There is no winner-takes-all model here, only progress that works when everyone can keep up with the harvest.  

E-nema will once again be present at the Mushroom Days in the Netherlands and that's good news for growers striving for strong, uniform, and sustainable crops. As a pioneer in biological crop protection, e-nema has been developing beneficial nematodes for over 25 years, which offer a natural solution to harmful insects in mushroom cultivation.

E-nema has developed a product line specifically for the mushroom industry aimed at effectively combating the sciarid fly (fungus gnat). These nematodes work deep into the substrate, actively seek out their prey, and thus significantly help control the population, without the use of chemicals.

At the Mushroom Days, e-nema will be happy to explain how these living organisms work, how they can best be applied, and the benefits growers experience in practice. Whether you're looking for a more sustainable solution, better pest control, or simply interested in the latest biological innovations, e-nema's experts are ready to answer all your questions.

Visit their booth and discover how natural enemies can be a powerful ally for healthy and future-proof mushroom cultivation.