PROJECT
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 1
Medallion Mushrooms:
‘farming for the future’
By Ilana Koegelenberg
The composting process takes about one to two weeks, depending on the time of the year.
W
hen Medallion Mushrooms
outgrew its premises and decided
to upgrade, it wasn’t merely its
growing rooms that were kitted out with
the latest technology, but its new climate
control system too.
We visited the new Medallion Mushrooms
site near Stellenbosch and had a chat with
Baring Richardson (director) and Barend
Koorts (technical manager) to see exactly
how they do what they do and the role that
the climate control system plays in their day-
to-day life. With Steven Palvi Jr of Wynroete
Verkoeling also on hand to explain more
about the installation, and Carlo van Wyk
of AERSA at the table to chat about the
chillers, here follows the story of Medallion
Mushrooms …
THE STORY SO FAR
In 1979, Highveld Mushrooms was started
by Chris Richardson and Colin Jacobson
with plans to supply the mushroom
processing industry. At that stage, the farm
produced four tons of mushrooms per week,
supplying a frozen mushroom processor.
Soon after, Highveld moved to producing
predominantly fresh product.
After buying out Jacobson in 1986,
Richardson became sole owner. His sons,
Mushroom spawn (which is mushroom mycelium germinated onto rye grain seeds) is
added to the pasteurised compost to start the growing process.
Ross and later Baring, joined the business as
it grew over the years. In 1998, the Meadow
Mushrooms farm in the Vaal was acquired,
upping production to 60 tonnes a week.
In 2011, Highveld purchased the majority
stake in Medallion Mushrooms.
In 2015, the team decided it was time for
an upgrade … And within a year, the new
site was commissioned.
BUILDING THE NEW SITE
For the first few weeks, humidity and carbon dioxide are kept high to stimulate the
‘spawn running’ process.
When Medallion outgrew its original
premises, the team decided to build a
new site from scratch, to match modern
European facilities.
Efficiency was key when selecting the
HVAC&R system and it was of utmost
importance to try and reduce the energy
COLD LINK AFRICA • May 2018
bill. Reliability of the system was also
not negotiable. Working with such a
temperature-sensitive and highly perishable
product, they really couldn’t afford any
downtime.
The new Medallion facility is state-of-the-
art and Koorts was very heavily involved
in terms of its design and finding the most
suitable technology to ensure optimum
efficiency.
Efficiency is the aim across the board,
explains Baring Richardson. “This farm is one
of the most advanced mushroom farms in
Africa and we are very proud of it,” he says.
This farm has a slightly bigger footprint
than their previous site. Medallion has 18
rooms, six of which are currently used as
producing rooms. When operating at full
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