Last Friday, Mushroom Office and LTO Paddenstoelen jointly hosted the National Mushroom Day 2025. Around 150 participants—ranging from mushroom producers to suppliers—came together for an inspiring day full of knowledge sharing, innovation, and networking.
We kicked the day off with an impressive company visit to Cox Champignons in Broekhuizen. This innovative company uses machines to cut mushrooms. Weekly he filles about 775 tonnes of phase 3 compost every week. The total growing aria is no less than 35,000 m². A powerful example of scale and efficiency in the sector.
We then moved on to the atmospheric Mushroom museum De Locht, where four fascinating speakers shared their insights:
- Jessika van Leeuwen (member of the European Parliament for BBB) gave an engaging insight into how the European Parliament works. She showed how even a small country like the Netherlands—and an even smaller sector like mushroom farming—can still make a difference in Brussels.
- Annemiek Canjels (from the Province of Limburg) put the agricultural sector into a broader perspective. She emphasized the importance of developing knowledge and pointed to opportunities like the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and various funding options that can help boost research and innovation.
- Prof. Han Wösten (a regular guest at this event) presented groundbreaking research on reusing spent mushroom compost—the leftover product of mushroom cultivation—as a natural filtration material to remove pharmaceutical residues and PFAS from water. Fungi are nature’s cleaners, and spent compost can play a valuable role in that. The theory is there—now it’s time to put it into practice!
- Emile Derache (from Heliovision) wrapped up the session with an inspiring talk about the use of artificial intelligence in mushroom farming. He demonstrated how AI can help automatically monitor and record product quality, and introduced a new growth module under development that will support growers in planning and steering their cultivation process.
After the content-rich program, it was time to unwind and catch up during a relaxed wrap-up featuring delicious oyster mushroom sausage rolls, a barbecue, music, and drinks. Old friends reunited, and plenty of new connections were made.
A full recap will be published soon in Mushroom Business #130.
