Innovation is the engine of competitiveness in mushroom production too

By: STA Date: 2025. 05. 16. 09:30

The technological developments in the horticultural sector, including intensive mushroom production, are of paramount importance, which is why the government also supports the implementation of these serious investments. These significantly contribute to increasing the competitiveness of domestic food production and reducing import exposure – said Imre Hubai, the State Secretary for Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, at the inauguration ceremony of the Pilze-Nagy group of companies engaged in oyster mushroom production.

(Photo: (AM/Orsolya Kozelka)

In his welcoming speech, Imre Hubai called oyster mushroom cultivation one of the youngest sectors, in which equipment must be operated where regulated climate conditions, appropriate air, and the creation of the ratio of carbon dioxide and humidity are essential. Recognizing the needs, the Ministry of Agriculture provided support to production plants with outdated cultivation conditions with the help of tender funds. This allowed producers to achieve more competitive cultivation in their new mushroom production cultivation equipment. In addition, modernizations and renovations affecting building energy, building engineering and energy supply were carried out from the grants received, he added.

The State Secretary reminded that within the Rural Development Program, which is financially closed this year, several calls for tenders were also available to horticulture farms, and thus mushroom growers

The “Energy Efficiency of Agricultural and Processing Plants” improvement”, and the “Gardening – Support for the development of mushroom production plants” calls, the Kecskemét company, which has developed from a family farm into a group of companies with a turnover exceeding 2 billion forints in the past year and providing jobs for almost 70 people, was also able to benefit from them – he explained. He then added that the support awarded in the two applications was more than 830 million forints for the group of companies, which provided an opportunity to – continuing the practice of several decades – think about a new development round.

It is a strategic goal for the national economy that domestic consumption should be ensured mainly from domestic production, leaving little room for imported mushroom products

The amount of oyster mushrooms produced by Pilze-Nagy Kft. and Nagy-Gombakert Kft. fills a gap in the Hungarian market. The majority of mushroom production is limited to the production of champignon mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms account for 7-8 percent of it – he added. Oyster mushrooms are very healthy, a superfood, and the European and domestic mushroom consumption has also increased significantly in recent years – indicated Imre Hubai, who believes that this is why “development is the order of the day, and in a field like oyster mushroom cultivation, it is also profitable.” The results and research and development activities of the Pilze-Nagy group so far – especially in the framework of cooperation with MATE – are exemplary and clearly demonstrate that innovation is the key to competitiveness.