MUSHROOM FARM OWNER TAKES ON THE ODORS

LONDON GROVE » Most people in southern Chester County can tell you what mushroom growing smells like because they live in or near what is called the mushroom capital of the world. And, for the most part, they don’t like the fumes.

It’s the strong odor of rotten eggs — hydrogen sulfide — that comes from the decay process in the compost used to grow the fungi.

Now, at least one grower composter is planning a construction project that aims at reducing that odor.

Last Thursday night, Artie Needham, president of Needham’s Mushroom Farms on Valley Road just outside of West Grove, invited several hundred of his neighbors to the London Grove Township Building to view diagrams of his plan to upgrade his plant at Hy-Tech Mushroom Composting.

The plan is quite large and has several parts, but the aspect that encouraged many of the guests was the part that involved shooting air into the piles of raw compost to aerate it. The compost, called substrate, is the material on which mushrooms grow inside growing houses, but they sit around outside for awhile before they enter the houses.

Injecting the piles with air from below while they are sitting out emitting bad smells would eliminate what is called anaerobic development of areas in the interior. Anaerobic means that some areas deep in the pile are not getting oxygen, and that’s where the bad smell comes from.

Under Needham’s plan, the piles of compost, which con-

It’s the strong odor of rotten eggs — hydrogen sulfide — that comes from the decay process in the compost used to grow the fungi.

sist of a mixture of natural products including horse-bedded straw (straw from horse stables), hay, poultry manure, ground corn cobs, cottonseed hulls, gypsum, and other substances, would be stored inside three-sided bunkers and on floors that have nozzles that shoot the air.

“The aerator turns off and on. It’s computer controlled. When the oxygen is depleted, the fan goes on,” Needham said.

He added to the explanation, “The straw mix doesn’t smell. But when you add water, the microbes go to work and produce hydrogen sulfide. It’s anaerobic like a rotten egg with no air getting in.”

Needham’s project has other parts as well. One involves moving the aerated compost to its second phase of pasteurization (called “Phase Two) into tunnels, which heat it up very hot to sterilize it. Ordinarily this is done by filling the mushroom house with the raw compost and sealing it up until it gets hot and steams itself clean. During that time, no growing takes place.

Needham said with the new system the bales of steamed compost being produced in these tunnels means that the grower doesn’t have to take time out of the growing cycle for steaming. In the long run, the grower will have about two more growing cycles (which are the profitable part) in a year.

Theoretically, it will cost the growers more to purchase the ready-made compost, but they will recoup profits by growing more mushrooms in a shorter time.

The format of Thursday’s meeting was an open house with light snacks. Some people arrived earlier than the 6 p.m. opening, they said because they thought there was going to be a talk, and they wanted to get a good seat.

But instead, it was more casual, with stations and experts posted around the room with charts and diagrams, willing to answer any questions and hear what people had to say.

The most frequent comment was “the sooner the better,” to which they were told that it might take a couple years to get up and running, with the first year spent obtaining zoning permits.

Some visitors drew on their own scientific knowledge asking about effects on the environment and exactly how much will the odor be reduced. There were others who wanted to know if tax money would be used for the project (the answer was “no”),

Overall, many people spoke their appreciation that Needham had the consideration to share his news with them personally. The stations around the room were staffed by Mark Hackenburg (project sequence and stormwater management), Jerry Yeatman (grower benefits), Penn State scientist David Beyer (odor reduction technology) and Ken Lomax and Adam Mowery (wastewater management).

Needham said some other mushroom farms have already adopted this system and he sees it as the norm of the future.

CHRIS BARBER — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Scientist David Beyer demonstrates how raw piles of compost will be aerated.

Neighbors stop at stations that show diagrams of planned changes at Needham’s Mushroom Farm.

A diagram shows the planned upgrades at Needham’s Mushroom Farm.

Needham’s Mushroom Farm President Artie Needham will oversee the project to reduce odor at the plant.

CHRIS BARBER — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA On display was a model of the device that will inject fresh air into the piles of raw mushroom compost.