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CA-3169574-C - ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR THE CULTIVATION OF HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS

CA3169574CCA 3169574 CCA3169574 CCA 3169574CCA-3169574-C

Abstract

The invention relates to cultivation rack for use in an arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products for placement thereof adjacent and aligned with a further rack being separated from the cultivation rack by a wall including an opening. The cultivation rack includes a plurality of support structures arranged at respective support heights for supporting cultivation packages at the plurality of support heights in the cultivation rack, wherein the support heights of the cultivation rack are aligned with further support heights of the further rack, wherein the cultivation rack is arranged for cooperating with a transfer unit for moving the cultivation packages from the cultivation rack into the further rack.

Inventors

  • Martinus Leonardus Hendrikus Maria CHRISTIAENS

Assignees

  • CHRISTIAENS GROUP B.V.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20170526
Priority Date
20160527

Claims (16)

  1. 22 Claims 1. Cultivation rack for use in an arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products for placement thereof adjacent and aligned with a further rack being separated from the cultivation rack by a wall including an opening, wherein the cultivation rack comprises a plurality of support structures arranged at respective support heights for supporting cultivation packages at the plurality of support heights in the cultivation rack, wherein the support heights of the cultivation rack are aligned with further support heights of the further rack, wherein the cultivation rack is arranged for cooperating with a transfer unit for moving the cultivation packages from the cultivation rack into the further rack.
  2. 2. Cultivation rack according to claim 1, wherein the transfer unit is configured for being connected to at least one of the cultivation packages, for hauling of the cultivation packages into the further rack.
  3. 3. Cultivation rack according to claim 2, wherein the transfer unit comprises a pulley, the pulley comprising a windable longitudinal pulling member and a coupling member connected to the pulling member, the pulling member having a length for enabling spanning the further rack in a longitudinal direction such as to enable coupling of the coupling member to a cultivation package in the cultivation rack, the pulley being operable for pulling the cultivation package into the support structure of the further rack.
  4. 4. Cultivation rack according to claim 3, wherein the transfer unit comprises a winch or a rollable spool. Date Re9ue/Date Received 2024-03-26 23
  5. 5. Cultivation rack according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the transfer unit comprises a coupling member configured for coupling to a cultivation package residing in the cultivation rack, for moving the cultivation packages by at least one of: one-by-one, two or more cultivation packages together, or all cultivation packages at once.
  6. 6. Cultivation rack according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the cultivation rack comprises at least one of: carriages for supporting therein the cultivation packages; or a cloth or a canvas for supporting the cultivation packages; or a plate-like construction for supporting the cultivation packages.
  7. 7. Cultivation rack according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the cultivation rack is arranged for supporting the cultivation packages such that the cultivation packages comprise at least one of: a layer of compost including spawned mushrooms spores; or a layer of distributed compost with already spawned mushroom spores and ingrown mycelium, wherein the layer of compost is optionally covered by casing soil for champignon cultivation; or a layer of distributed compost with already spawned mushroom spores and ingrown mycelium, wherein the layer of compost is covered by casing soil for champignon cultivation; or a plurality of contiguously arranged preformed layer blocks of spawned and ingrown compost, wherein the preformed layer blocks optionally include casing soil; or a plurality of contiguously arranged preformed layer blocks of spawned and ingrown compost, wherein the preformed layer blocks optionally include casing soil. Date Re9ue/Date Received 2024-03-26 24
  8. 8. Cultivation rack according to claim 7, wherein the layer of compost is covered by casing soil for champignon cultivation.
  9. 9. Cultivation rack according to claim 7, wherein the preformed layer blocks optionally include casing soil.
  10. 10. Further rack configured for cooperating, through an opening in a wall, with a cultivation rack according to any one of claims 1-9, the cultivation rack being separate from the further rack, for use in an arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products, the further rack comprising a plurality of support structures arranged at respective support heights for supporting cultivation packages at the plurality of support heights, wherein the further rack comprises a transfer unit at at least one of the support heights, wherein the transfer unit is configured to be connected to at least one cultivation package residing in the cultivation rack for moving the at least one cultivation package from the cultivation rack into the further rack.
  11. 11. Further rack according to claim 10, wherein the transfer unit comprises a pulley, the pulley comprising a windable longitudinal pulling member and a coupling member connected to the pulling member, the pulling member having a length for enabling spanning the further rack in a longitudinal direction such as to enable coupling of the coupling member to a cultivation package residing in the cultivation rack, the pulley being operable for pulling the cultivation package into the support structure of the further rack.
  12. 12. Arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products, the arrangement comprising at least a cultivation rack according to any one of claims Date Re9ue/Date Received 2024-03-26 1-9 or to a further rack according to any one of claims 10-11, wherein the cultivation rack and the further rack are located adjacent each other and aligned with each other, and wherein the cultivation rack and the further rack are separate entities that are located isolated from each other wherein the cultivation rack and the further rack cooperate with each other via the transfer unit for moving the cultivation packages from the cultivation rack into the rack.
  13. 13. Arrangement according to claim 12, wherein the cultivation rack and the further rack are separated by one or more walls including openings in the one or more walls.
  14. 14. Arrangement according to claim 13, wherein each of the openings are closeable by a door.
  15. 15. Use of a cultivation rack according to any one of claims 1-9, or a further rack according to any one of claims 10-11, or an arrangement according to any one of claims 12-14, in a method of cultivating horticultural products.
  16. 16. Use according to claim 15, wherein the horticultural products are mushrooms. Date Re9ue/Date Received 2024-03-26

Description

Title: Arrangement and method for the cultivation of horticultural products. Field of the invention The present invention is directed at an arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products, more specifically mushrooms, wherein the products are cultivated in cultivation beds arranged in racks at various support heights. The invention is further directed at a method for 10 cultivation of such horticultural products. Background The cultivation of mushrooms, such as champignons or similar products, is typically on a large scale performed in in-house in cultivation 15 facilities. Cultivation conditions are to be monitored and managed well in such facilities, because the growing of mushrooms is very sensible to deviations from these conditions. Moreover, controlling these conditions also enables to control the yield and size of the champignons bred. To guarantee the breeding of high quality products, active and accurate management the 20 cultivation conditions is thus important. As may be understood, it is more easy to manage these conditions in small or compact cultivation facilities. The larger a facility becomes, the more difficult it will be to manage the conditions efficiently everywhere in the facility. For this reason, it is advantageous not to make the facilities too 25 large and to use the available space efficient. For this reason, mushrooms such as champignons are typically bred in racks, having cultivation beds arranged in a stacked configuration at various heights, as this allows efficient use of the available space. As will be appreciated, the space above each bed large enough to allow growth, condition management and 30 harvestings. With respect to the latter, an operator harvesting mushrooms Date Re9ue/Date Received 2022-08-04 2 must be able to reach the mushrooms in the beds and to judge their size in order to pick the right mushrooms to harvest. With respect to the cultivation conditions, a further challenge is provided by the optimal conditions during various stages of cultivation. For 5 example for champignons, after spawning during the phase wherein the casing soil is being colonized by mycelium by ingrowth, the soil is to be kept wet and the ambient conditions require a high content of carbon dioxide (CO2) and a relative high temperature of 22 to 23 degrees Celcius (°C). However, in the phase thereafter when the casing soil is colonized, the 10 mycelium will form buttons at the surface. During this stage, ventilation is important, the CO2 is reduced and the temperature will be decreased to 17 to 18 °C. Thereafter, control of the ambient conditions allows to manage whether many small champignons (e.g. at low temperatures and low humidity) or fewer large champignons (e.g. at higher temperatures and 15 higher humidity) will grow. Ventilation remains important during this phase, which will continue until the mushrooms are ready for harvesting. During the harvesting phase, having a duration of various weeks, the mushrooms appear and grow in cycles. Also, various different sizes may be desired, requiring to perform harvesting of some mushrooms to take 20 place later than other mushrooms. Thus harvesting may be performed multiple times per cultivation bed. Due to the vulnerability of the mushrooms, machined harvesting - although being much faster - has the disadvantage ofleading to more damage and lesions on the mushrooms. Therefore manual harvesting is still popular, however, this is a labour 25 intensive task. During such harvesting, reaching the mushrooms as well as judging their size is difficult in view of the typically limited amount of space above the beds. Hence, this may lead to variation in size of the mushrooms harvested and it also renders the task to be physically demanding on the operator/ harvester. Date Re9ue/Date Received 2022-08-04 3 Summary of the invention In the present document, reference is made to a 'cultivation package'. This term is to be understood as a package comprising at least compost including the horticultural products or it's growth, spores or seeds 5 (i.e. spores, ingrown spores, seeds, seedlings of the horticultural products). Usually, but dependent on the type of product, the cultivation package may also comprise further layers or ingredients, e.g. casing soil for champignons. It is an object of the present invention to ameliorate the disadvantages identified above, and to provide a cultivation arrangement 10 and method that allows efficient use of space for enabling effective condition management, while also improving harvesting conditions. To this end, there is provided herewith an arrangement for the cultivation of horticultural products, more specifically mushrooms, comprising a first and a second rack arranged adjacent and aligned with 15 each other such as to provide a working space between the first and the second rack, wherein each rack comprises a plurality of support structures arranged at respective support heights for supporting cultivation