Ways to cut a mushroom. By Archi-Duc

1970 — Ouders

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Notes to come.

1992 — Handpluk

25 kg/pers

Mushrooms grow on five tiers of shelving and every one is plucked off the bed by hand. Nothing moves but the pickers.

1997 — Snijbedrijf industrie

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A blade and a belt boxed up on wheels. The machine drives along a shelf from right to left, shaving the mushrooms off the bed as it goes and carrying them away inside.

2004 — Plukbandjes aan stelling

35 kg/pers

The same growing rack, now with a belt slung on two cables. It is winched up and down to sit level with whichever shelf is being picked, and what is picked goes straight onto it instead of into a basket.

2005 — 1-laag, plukbandjes, gesplitste teelt

35 kg/pers

Ten mushrooms at a time ride the belt with their stems through the slot; a horizontal blade takes the stems off in one pass.

2014 — Teelt in potjes

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Notes to come.

2018 — Test oogsten op band in potjes

50 kg/pers

Whole lumps arrive on an indexed belt; the cutting box harvests each lump in one stroke and sets the mushrooms on the take-away belt.

2021 — Gantry

200 kg/pers

Eight lumps cut in a single go; the loose mushrooms drop into boxes of four and head to packing.

2022 — Dunne laag, 1 oogst

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Notes to come.

2026 — Pickless

1000 kg/pers

No more lumps: an unbroken stream of compost rides a thirty-degree belt while a skimming knife shaves the mushrooms off mid-flow.