"Consumer demand for mushrooms is slowly reaching normal levels again. The post-pandemic market has been somewhat disappointing. Organic mushrooms fared slightly worse, but there, too, demand is picking up," Warmolt Boer, member of LTO Netherlands' Mushroom group, begins, reflecting on the Northern European mushroom market's state." Consumers love mushrooms and are starting to buy them again. They’ve again realized that mushrooms are healthy, cheaper than meat, and a nice part of the meal."
Breeding at Agarica
Warmolt suspects people's reluctance to buy mushrooms has to do with their caution concerning their deteriorating purchasing power. Nonetheless, he is optimistic about medium-term market developments. "Mushrooms fit extremely well in vegetarian or flexitarian menus and can contribute to the protein transition. Basic demand is rising, and mushrooms are increasingly part of, and a good addition to, a healthy diet. So, on the demand side, we're optimistic about the future," says Warmolt.
Increasing specialization
As a grower, he focuses on cultivating white and chestnut mushrooms at his company, Agarica's two sites. But Warmolt sees increasing specialization throughout the sector. "Few companies produce different types of mushrooms. Growers often concentrate on, say, only organic, only mushrooms, or only oyster mushrooms. The specialization that began earlier continues. Growing mushrooms takes dedication, so growers cultivate very intensively, and specialization helps. Then you perform better."
Boer also notices that the Dutch market assortment is shifting from white to chestnut mushrooms, upping chestnut mushrooms' share. But demand for other varieties - which he notes are now so well established they are not really exotics anymore - is increasing, too. "Looking at the whole package, you see varieties like oyster mushrooms and shiitake doing very well. Those steadily growing products have a rising base demand," Warmolt explains.
More focus on local for local
He, too, sees challenges in the longer term and expects those to lead to a smaller, stabler, environmentally and financially sustainable mushroom sector in the Netherlands. "Within Europe, there's a growing emphasis on local-for-local. That's an inherent weakness of the Dutch sector, which exports a lot. Although that share is decreasing, it's still substantial. In the longer run, the sector could be organized Europe-wide but with more local production. That could put some pressure on production companies in the Netherlands."
The increasing costs are also challenging, Warmolt admits. "Especially labor-intensive products like white and chestnut mushrooms face rising labor and raw material costs. Most companies have to deal with that, but the sector is working on that creatively," he says, pointing out that technical innovations are being used in, for example, the cultivation and packaging process, which require less labor. "The first of these solutions have been implemented in different companies, and now we get to see how they work in practice."
Being competitive
These latest developments are partly why the Netherlands succeeds in competing with the other major European producer: Poland. "I believe the cost price differences are shrinking and aren't that bad. That country used to be a considerable threat, but that is diminishing," continues Warmolt. Factors such as Dutch product innovation, the focus on faster, shorter, and, thus, cheaper chains, and rising labor and logistics costs in Eastern Europe contribute to this.
Packaging at Agarica
Sustainability is another aspect that is manifesting more and more prominently in cultivation. "How can our sector ensure a chain that's organized as sustainably as possible?" The Mushroom group is involved in mapping the sector's CO2 footprint. The group member says to optimize mushroom growing's footprint, measures including generating energy, implementing energy savings, using fewer non-renewable raw materials such as plastic, and implementing shorter chains are being utilized and explored.
Taking joint action
"Customer attention to that is climbing considerably. The importance of sustainability is seen chain-wide at retailers, growers, transporters, and packers alike. The entire chain is taking up that challenge." Warmolt notes that that is a change from years ago when each link in the chain often considered this issue separately. "There's more collaboration, which is a wonderful development. Although not every retailer is as committed, there's far more brainstorming. There's more dialogue than discussion," he concludes.
Agarica bv
A.G. Bellstraat 17
7903 AD Hoogeveen
T: +31 (0)528-263909
Warmolt.boer@agarica.nl
www.agrica.nl