Manitoba Mushroom Growers Association

www.ManitobaMushrooms.ca

Our Farms

Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. currently operates two farms, one in Winnipeg, and one in the RM of Springfield. Combined, the two farms employ about 200 people. The employees at Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. are responsible for making the compost, seeding the crop, harvesting the mushrooms, packaging, and transporting the finished product to the customers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. produces about eight million pounds of mushrooms per year.

The Food We Eat

Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. adheres to a strict food safety program called SQF (Safe Quality Foods). This program requires an annual third party audit. This certification must be maintained in order to sell mushrooms to the large grocery stores.

Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. must also meet specific quality specification set forth by the customers. This includes sizing, colour, dirt, stem length, and more. Local farms are so important to the freshness of the product. Mushrooms are picked, packed and sometimes in the customer store within 12 hours. The health benefits of mushrooms are being brought out of the dark. North America is finding out that healthy people eat mushrooms. Mushrooms are the only item on the produce shelf with naturally occurring vitamin D. Three mushrooms per day are all it takes.

The Economy We Create

Winnipeg-based Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. is churning out about 72,576 kg of mushrooms/week at its two farms. A 125,000-square-foot facility that’s been operating in Winnipeg for the last 63 years and a new 73,000 square-foot one just east of the city. The addition of the second production plant in 2009 farm has boosted its sales and production by about 25 percent. This allows the company to keep up with the growing demand for mushrooms. Another benefit of building the second plant is the ability to modernize some of its operations and begin producing organically grown mushrooms.