BIOGRAPHY - DR. PETER GRAYSTONE

Dr. Peter Graystone obtained his electrical and mechanical engineering training in England from 1951 to 1955, his B.Sc. in human Physiology in 1966 and his Ph.D. in neurophysiology in 1971 at the University of B.C. where he did research and taught for 25 years in Medical Physiology, Obstetrics, Zoology and Rehabilitation Medicine. In 1986, as an associate professor, he took early retirement and established Richmond Speciality Mushroom Farms Ltd., a research and development company, of which he is the president. In 1995 the operation was moved from Richmond to a larger site north of Aldergrove. In his present capacity he has combined his engineering and biological training to develop a reliable computer controlled oyster mushroom growing system. A demonstration system is being operated at the site and the total sales from this system in 2000 were over $300,000 and are expected to reach $400,000 per year by the end of 2001. Further research is ongoing using this system to grow other mushrooms.

THE GROWING SYSTEM

The turnkey system was developed by Dr. Peter Graystone over a period of eleven years at a cost of $1.8 million. It consists of two computer controlled spawn run modules and two computer controlled growing modules together with the preparation area equipment.

Each spawn run module is manufactured from a standard 20 ft shipping container. It is insulated to R12 and has vertical metal air ducts on both sides, running from ceiling to floor along the length of the modules. Vertical rows of air holes are provided in both the output and input air ducts every 12 ins along the length of the modules. These provide laminar air flow across the modules. The air flows out of the module via the output duct and into the insulated metal plenum where It passes through the evaporator of the reversible heat pump through the fan and back to the module via the input duct. A controlled amount of outside air is introduced to provide positive pressure inside the module. This outside air is filtered through a prefilter and then a Hepa filter. Two stainless steel rails run from end to end of the spawn run module, mounted on the ceiling. From these rails hang vertical aluminum growing racks, each 32 in wide by 6 ft long by 3 in thick. Each rail holds up to 18 racks for a total of 36. Each rack has 110 holes, 5/8 inch in diameter in alternating rows, on each side. The racks each hold 180 lb of wet substrate with a dry weight of 60 lb. When the module doors are open, extension rails may be fitted to allow the racks to be rolled out or in the module.

The growing modules are manufactured from standard 40 ft shipping containers. The air is heated or cooled, filtered, scrubbed and humidified. Filtered outside air is exchanged as required by means of adjustable outside air dampers. One stainless steel rail runs the length of the module mounted to one side on the ceiling. At the end of the spawn run, the racks are moved from the spawn module to the growing module forming a single row of 36 racks with plenty of room for the pickers.

All the equipment necessary for the preparation area can be provided. This consists of a ten cu. yd. mixer, a steam generator or boiler capable of 1,000,000 BTU/hr with appropriate hoses and fittings and a pressure washer to clean off the racks after emptying them of spent substrate and to clean out the modules after emptying.

THE GROWING PROCESS

The process is as follows: Hardwood sawdust and certified organic wheat and flax are placed in the mixer. The steam generator is connected and turned on and the substrate cooked for sufficient time to kill any competing fungus. The steam is turned off after the substrate reaches pasteurization temperature. The substrate is cooled by blowing it with Hepa filtered air until it reaches 25 degrees Celsius at which point it is loaded into the racks, the spawn is added and the racks loaded into the spawn run module. The doors are closed and the computer takes control of the process.

At the completion of the spawn period, the racks are moved to one of the growing modules where the mushrooms grow and are harvested. After one crop the racks are removed and emptied. This substrate can be bagged, boxed and labelled as certified organic oyster mushroom growing kits. Alternatively it can be mixed with organic chicken manure, pasteurized, cooled and bagged and sold as a soil conditioner and certified organic fertilizer.

After the racks are emptied they are cleaned thoroughly and loaded back into the spawn run module. The steam generator is connected to the module and the module and racks are heated to 100 degrees Celsius with the module control system off. When temperature has been reached the module fan is switched on to pasteurize the ducts and plenum. The steam is switched off and the module and racks allowed to cool overnight ready for reloading the next batch of pasteurized substrate.

COMPUTER CONTROL

As soon as the spawn run module is loaded with racks the computer control is put into effect. The dedicated computer controller can be monitored by a remotely connected PC. The PC does not control the growing modules, it is used to observe and set the parameters in the control computer and to observe the data collected by the dedicated control computer. In addition a modem link may be connected via telephone line allowing parameter control and data observation at any distance.

Six bed temperature probes are inserted into the middle of the substrate in racks throughout the spawn run module. The hottest of these is used to control the bed temperature and the others for observation of bed temperature distribution throughout the module. Bed temperature is alarmed at 23 and 28 degrees Celsius. The control of bed temperature is by a heat pump. The inside coil temperature is monitored. Air temperature is also measured and alarmed at 38 degrees Celsius.

In the growing modules two bed temperature probes, each inserted in the middle of a rack monitor the bed temperatures in the racks. These are alarmed for high and low temperature. The relative humidity is calculated from a wet and dry bulb thermistor with the dry bulb alarmed for high and low air temperature. The humidity is monitored by the control computer and the humidifier switched on or off as required.

LOGISTICS OF OPERATION

A two person team plus helper can easily operate the four module system, which is placed as close as possible to the target market. The vertical growing method produces mushroom bunches ready for harvest with virtually no stalks. Picking is by twisting the mushroom bunches off and trimming the short stalk. This leaves a clean substrate surface ready for the next flush. The picking process is very simple and requires little cleanup of the mushrooms after picking, they are picked directly into the delivery boxes. For a continuous even supply of mushrooms, two spawn and two growing modules are required. One growing room is emptied each week and the colonized racks from one spawn room are moved into it. The racks are emptied, cleaned, pasteurized, cooled and refilled with the cooled pasteurized substrate and spawn.

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION

Because the system is extremely clean very little bacteria are present on the mushrooms giving a shelf life up to a week. Because no pesticides or chemicals are used in the growing process, the mushrooms can have organic certification. Very few mushroom growers have organic certification so that there is little competition for the large and growing organic market.

WHAT YOU DO

You provide your own market survey and assess that the sales potential will support the growing system in your area.

You provide the black topped preparation area on agricultural land with a farmland assessment, water and power ready for installation of the growing modules. Recommended power 200A 230V. It is recommended that your power and water supplies be underground to the modules. It is also recommended that you plan ahead and put in the underground plumbing and wiring to allow for expansion to 6 and eventually 8 modules

A tractor with loader and PTO is needed to load and drive the mixer. Recommended horse power is a minimum of 50hp.

A 25 to 100 HP reconditioned boiler (1 - 4,000,000 BTU/hr) which requires 220v power and water and a connection to your choice of fuel. We recommend a Cleaver Brooks water tube boiler. A steam hose long enough to reach from the boiler to the spawn rooms and the mixer. We can supply the boiler and hose as an added option if necessary.

A 10 cu yd rebuilt feed mixer which can be PTO driven with steam input manifold and tight fitting lid with input and output air ducts. We can supply this as an added option if necessary.

You will also need a walk in food cooler approximately 16ft x 8 ft x 8 ft. We can supply this cooler in a 20 ft shipping container if required as an added option.

You will require a supply of mushroom boxes. We can supply the dimensions. They cost about $1.00 each and hold 5 lbs of oyster mushrooms.

A delivery vehicle is required which has some form of insulated compartment capable of holding at least 500 lb of boxed mushrooms. An insulated panel truck is perfect. Refrigeration is preferred but not necessary for short deliveries close to home. A small heater may be required in cold climates in the winter to avoid freezing the mushrooms.

LOCATION OF GROWING SYSTEMS

Our philosophy is that you cannot ship oyster mushrooms more than about one or two hour's drive economically. We place a modular growing system as close as possible to each city of sufficient size or a group of smaller towns within a reasonable radius. Shipping through warehouses and middlemen creates a delay of up to 3 days between grower and retailer. With a warm weather shelf life of a maximum of 5 days this delay will put you out of business. If the price is high enough you can fly the mushrooms almost anywhere in the world.

THE GROWER

The type of owner we are looking for is typically a farmer looking to diversify and provide a year round income or a professional engineer or tradesman who has taken early retirement at age 50 to 55. This person is financially secure and lives on a hobby farm on the outskirts of town and wants something to do 2 or 3 days per week. Our system provides that level of work with a very lucrative financial reward. The system is designed as a cottage industry with two owners plus a part time helper.

SALES

Each rack produces 25 - 30 lb of mushrooms on the first crop. With 36 racks per module and moving in a new batch every week the result is 1000lb of mushrooms per week. Conservatively if we assume half being sold to retailers and restaurants at $4.25/lb and the other half going to wholesalers at $3.25/lb the weekly income from the oyster mushroom sales will be $3750 or $195,000 per year. If you are fortunate to be close to a major US market your sales will be considerably higher.

In addition to sales to restaurants and retail stores, we sell at the farm markets. Typically cash sales of all varieties of the mushrooms can be as high as $1,200/day with an average of $800/day at these markets. Prices are higher than sales to the restaurants and retail stores - Portabella, Portabellini and Shiitake $10.00/lb and oyster mushrooms $6.00/lb. Sales are in small containers of 4 oz and 8 oz. The market sales are from spring to fall and amount to over $50,000 per year.

Organic home delivery has recently grown very rapidly from 5 services locally five years ago to 25 now. The numbers of deliveries for each service has also grown dramatically and some do over 1000 deliveries per week. These services normally take our mushrooms in the winter when the supply of fresh certified organic vegetables is short. Our sales to them is $40,000 per year. We have sold up to $75,000 per year to Canadian organic wholesalers but of course you get considerably less per pound than retail and restaurants or US wholesale.

We were repeatedly asked for other varieties and rapidly became a "one stop" mushroom broker.

In addition to the oyster mushroom sales we have found the market for Portabella, Portabellini, Shiitake to be 500 lb/week, 100lb/week and 150lb/week respectively. These sales are steadily increasing. The price for the large Portabella is $4.75/lb, Medium Portabella $4.25/lb, Portabellini is $3.50/lb and for Shiitake $6.80/lb. This gives additional gross sales of $3,500/week or $182,000 per year. With a mark up of $1.50 per lb on each of these varieties, the gross profit on the sale of mushrooms other than oyster amounts to $1,150/week or $60,000 per year.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC GROWING KITS AND CERTIFIED ORGANIC SOIL CONDITIONER

Over 300 growing kits could be produced every week. Sales on the internet, to garden shops and through seed catalogs would likely sell 100 per week. Assuming half direct at $10 each and half wholesale at $5 each this would yield gross sales of $750 per week or $39,000 per year. The soil conditioner would be seasonal but the demand would be higher and it is expected that an average of 200 bags per week could be sold, mostly wholesale through garden shops at $5 per bag. This would yield average gross sales of $1000 per week or $52,000 per year.

DRIED ORGANIC OYSTER MUSHROOMS AND DRIED PORTABELLINI MUSHROOMS

A few mushrooms that are smaller and not suitable for the fresh market can be dried with a weight loss of 10 times. The resulting dried organic mushrooms are packaged in 15 gm packs with a farm price of $2.00 each or approximately $60 / lb dry weight or $6 / lb wet weight. We do have a few Portabella and Portabellini mushrooms that become too mature to sell on the fresh market. These are sliced, dried and packaged in 10gm packs with a price of $2.00 per pack. The dried sales are not a significant part of the sales at present but could increase in the future.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The price of the four module system is $237,500 plus delivery cost and any applicable taxes. It includes on site supervision of the installation and training and one year of on-call trouble shooting. We can, of course, watch over your shoulder using the modem connection. Gross sales of all mushrooms should exceed $450,000 per year with an expected earnings in excess of $150,000 per year.

BREAKDOWN OF COSTS

The breakdown of the costs in Canadian $ of our growing module system is as follows:-

$60,000.00 per 20 ft insulated spawn run module, including six bed temperature sensors, 36,000 BTU/hr reversible heat pump, coil temperature sensor, air temperature sensor, metal ducting and plenum, circulating fan, air filtering system and two overhead stainless steel rails.
$30,000 per 40 ft growing module, including one humidity sensor, two bed temperature sensors, air temperature sensor and coil temperature sensor, heating and cooling system, humidifying and scrubbing systems, adjustable outside air damper, circulating fan, air filtering system and one overhead stainless steel rail capable of supporting 36 180lb racks.
$15,000 for the computer control system complete with 16 solid state relays, 4 fan relays, 25 thermistors and RS232 and modem communication, isolated 24 Volt control supplies and all control wiring. Waterproof boxes are provided and a PC, monitor and a dot matrix printer are included.
$14,400.00 for 144 aluminum racks, each with an aluminum lid, support channel and a stainless steel lifting eye.
$6,600 for 1200 stainless steel clamps.
$1,500 for 150 stainless steel support brackets each with two wheels capable of supporting 200lb.
$1,500 for the Hepa filtered cooling fan, ducting and trolley.

The on-site installation and training cost plus one year of on line consultation amount to $20,000.00. This includes accommodation and expenses and fees for the week of installation and long distance charges and site visits during the first year.

All modules will be painted in your choice of colours.

Total cost of our four module system, which is the most efficient choice, is $237,500. Prices are FOB our site, any taxes and shipping are not included. Terms are 50% with order, 40% upon delivery and 10% after installation and training.