It is a great pleasure and a privilege to welcome you to the 9th International Medicinal Mushrooms Conference, which will be held in Palermo, Italy, from 24 - 28 September 2017.

The city is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily and is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy (in particular street food is also a great way to learn about traditions and culture of Palermo). The city is well connected to international travel hubs and offers a great range of hotel accommodations as well as a stimulating atmosphere.

In mushroom growing there are many roads that lead to Rome. The key question is not which road you take but why you take it. This question is often difficult to answer. The answer will give you an understanding of your composting and growing processes and how to improve them. I guide you through all this with training and advice. And together we discover ways of improving your bottom line. Because that is ultimately what it is all about.

Visit my website Mushroom Office for tips and advice.

On 1 January 2017 Wauwiler Champignons will take over the Swiss Fine Funghi in Gossau, Canton of Zürich. Fine Funghi has 20 employees and is specialized in the production of edible gourmet mushrooms.

Contracts were signed at the beginning of December and on 1 January 2017 the change of ownership will take place. Wauwiler Champignons AG expands its portfolio with the purchase of Fine Funghi, a company specialized in the production of mushroom spawn and edible gourmet mushrooms.

Independent subsidiary company
The current owner of Fine Funghi, Patrick Romanens, started the production of mushroom spawn and the cultivation of edible mushrooms in 1988. He is renowned all over Europe for his pioneering work in the cultivation of shiitake and king oyster mushroom. His company has made a significant contribution to expanding the knowledge and use of originally Asian mushrooms in the Swiss cuisine.

Now the company’s founder and owner has sold his life work to ensure his succession. The takeover arrangements were quietly agreed upon. Patrick Romanens will be the managing director of Fine Funghi as an independent subsidiary of Wauwiler Champignons, and the company continues with its 20 employees.

Wauwiler Champignons continues to grow
The takeover of Fine Funghi will result in an expansion of their pool of employees to 200. In the future the company will produce 55 metric tons of button mushrooms in Wauwil per week and about 2 metric tons of gourmet mushrooms in Gossau per week. The weekly trade in 10 metric tons of cultivated and wild mushrooms in Switzerland and abroad complement the range.

Wauwiler Champignons AG also owns a 40% share in Gotthard Bio Pilze in Stansstad, founded in the summer 2016. Wauwiler Champignons is one of the largest producers of Swiss mushrooms and is member of the VSP (Association of Swiss mushroom producers), as are Fine Funghi and Gotthard Bio Pilze.

In the future, Wauwiler Champignons will start various projects together with Fine Funghi. For instance, the increase of the production of mushroom spawn and the supply of organic mushrooms produced in Switzerland too.

Photo: Wauwiler.ch

For more information:
Wauwiler Champignons AG
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The mushroom industry in the United States is worth around $1.19 billion and consists of only 346 growers. Donald Simoni owns and runs "Mushroom Adventures" where he grows the fungi on his farm in Marysville. He states that mushrooms are not grown using seeds and require special compost to grow. Grown indoors, they also require controlled humidity and temperature.

Over the last ten years the price of mushrooms stagnated but sales have grown 13 percent nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Simoni also noted that the cost of waste products used in cultivating mushrooms have risen as more companies look to recycled products. Simoni believes this could raise the price of mushrooms, but unlike other vegetables people won't notice the rise as they aren't a main course and are only bought a quarter of a pound at a time, he said.

source: abc10.com

Watsonville, Calif.-based Monterey Mushrooms has added Dana Giacone as a sales manager and has promoted Jill Moran to national customer service manager.

Giacone will be the sales manager of Southern California, Arizona and Hawaii, according to a news release. “We are thrilled to have a professional with Dana’s background join our team,” Kevin Eichele, western sales director, said in the release.

“We look forward to working with her to identify new business opportunities in the very important Southern California market.”

Monterey promoted Moran from her previous position as western region customer service manager. She has been with the company since 1991. “The customer service team is the voice of Monterey Mushrooms to our customers,” Mike O’Brien, vice president of sales and marketing, said in the release.

“The customer service team, under the leadership of Jill Moran, will play a leadership role in communicating to customers, as well as operations and sales regarding new projects, best practices and new items, following them through to execution. These are key resources for the sales team.”

Dana Giacone has been hired by Monterey Mushrooms as a sales manager, and Jill Moran has been promoted to national customer service manager.

The board of the Mushroomdays Foundation announces that the next edition of the largest global mushroom tradeshow “The Mushroomdays” in The Netherlands, will be held on 22-23-24 May 2019. The location for it remains “The Brabanthallen” in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
The board concluded from the questionnaires sent out to the participants and the visitors that the set up and the formula meet their demands fully and will therefore be continued in the same way. You can find the results of the questionnaires on www.mushroomdays.com . Mushroomdays 2016 has been a special one, as it was combined with the 19th ISMS-conference to form a massive week on mushrooms for 3.500 people involved in the global mushroom industry.

The visitors of the Mushroomdays have a preference for a next edition in 2018, as where the exhibitors strongly prefer 2019. After consulting the exhibitors, the board of the Mushroomdays Foundation decided in favour of 2019 and it was decided that another evaluation will be made after the 2019 edition to decide the date for the edition after the 2019 one. Exhibitors as well as organizers are aiming to continue the Mushroomdays as an event not to be missed on the international agenda. We already look forward to see all of you again in The Netherlands.

Piet Lempens
Chairman Mushroomdays Foundation

Stichting Champignondagen/Mushroomdays Foundation
+31 (0)654 315 666
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.champignondagen.nl / www.mushroomdays.com