Stuart Whitehall and Umberto Calvo on drip irrigation & supplements

In this MushroomLink podcast, Stuart discusses the strategic use of drip irrigation with AHR’s own mushroom grower Umberto Calvo. Umberto has conducted trials with a similar system at the March Lawson Mushroom Research Unit. With the potential to improve later flushes and even create nutritionally enhanced mushrooms, our panel discuss the mixed challenges and solutions offered by drip irrigation for mushrooms.

Podcast hosted by Dr Jenny Ekman, AHR.

Stuart Whitehall from Nutrigain has been working with mushrooms almost his entire life. Growing up on a family farm, he earned his pocket money selling spent compost from the tender age of 9. Over several decades in the industry he has both witnessed and driven a host of innovations, from spawn production and trading to biological pest control with nematodes. Stuart has now diversified into nutritional supplements, including the delivery of liquid solutions through drip irrigation systems. 

Umberto Calvo from AHR graduated in 2018 from the Università di Torino in Italy, and recently came to Australia to explore agricultural sciences in a completely different environment. With experience in Precision Viticulture in Spanish wine regions he is interested in precision and data-driven agriculture, remote sensing and horticulture crops. He is currently involved in a wide variety of projects from post-harvest avocado quality to mushroom growing techniques.