The Commercial Mushroom Producers Organisation has launched the Lean Farm Programme for mushroom growers. Lean is about driving continuous improvement to enable businesses to be operating more efficiently. A lean pilot programme was introduced to the mushroom sector in 2016 as the industry faltered following Brexit. The pilot programme was a success with savings identified in the areas of product giveaway,
harvesting, growing, energy, people management, planning/forecasting and benchmarking. CMP (commercial mushroom producers) have taken the initiative by Incorporating lean into
their operational programme and have achieved EU grant aid approval to roll out a lean farm programme to any mushroom farm who wants to introduce lean practices. Teagasc is taking a lead role in the Lean Programme by organising and coordinating the programme and also by doing an assessment on each unit to identify the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. So far, nine farms have started the lean programme with eight more farms ready to sign up. The programme will run up until the end of 2018 with the aim of continuing the programme into the future. ✽
