Medeiros is sitting in his office at Ottawa\u2019s only remaining mushroom farm, located in Osgoode. He\u2019s being radioed by his staff to return and attend to the everyday business of running things, while other employees pop in and out of the room with more messages. They\u2019re always urgent.<\/span><\/p>\n Medeiros, the co-owner of Carleton Mushroom Farms, juggles these daily responsibilities with exceptional calm. He\u2019s rarely on one task for long before the next begs for his attention, but Medeiros doesn\u2019t skip a beat when asked if switching to cleaner energy saved his family\u2019s decades-old business: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_margin=”0px||” custom_padding=”0|0|0|0|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_width_px=”714px” custom_padding=”22.7656px|0px|31px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”197,249,251,256,252,254,255,250,258″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ title_font=”||||||||” pagination_font=”||||||||” pagination_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”center” max_width=”80%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||30px” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”12px” header_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”77%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”-30px||”]<\/p>\n Photos illustrating the process of mushroom farming, from laying the mushroom compost all the way to shipping across Ontario and Quebec. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”22.75px|0px|3px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”0px||”]<\/p>\n Today, the farm ships 82 tonnes of white button, cremini and portobello mushrooms every week to Giant Tiger, Loblaws and Costco locations across Ottawa, among others. That\u2019s more than triple the 2013 production. <\/span><\/p>\n Just five years ago, the business was faced with the grim reality of high energy costs after Continental Mushroom, another farm in Ottawa, was forced to close.<\/span><\/p>\n The Medeiros family had to find a way to reduce steadily-rising costs, or call it quits.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe old farm back then [ran] on oil, which was a lot more costly,\u201d says Medeiros. \u201cWe realized we needed to transition to propane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mushrooms are farmed indoors in trays of dirt, each at a various stage in the fungi\u2019s growth. The Medeiros brothers built propane-heated rooms to compliment the old oil-heated ones, and about a year and a half ago they converted all their rooms to propane. Since 2011, they\u2019ve grown the farm from 10 rooms to an astounding 40 rooms, all heated with propane.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image align=”center” src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/foodforott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/transition-5c-2_34412949.png” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_padding=”0|0px|36px|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||30px”]<\/p>\n Fernando Sr., the family\u2019s patriarch, began Carleton Mushroom Farms in 1984 with two partners, whom he bought out just four years later. He walks through the rooms and speaks with pride and nostalgia, pointing to upgrades they\u2019ve made and obsolete machinery they\u2019re looking to sell.<\/p>\n Clusters of crimini mushrooms. Crimini mushrooms are immature portobello mushrooms, harvested before the caps have a chance to bloom. Photo by Dexter McMillan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now, the eldest Medeiros describes himself as \u201csemi-retired.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2011, Fernando Sr. turned over the farm to his sons, Mike and Fernando Jr., who have overseen much of the farm\u2019s growth since then. Fernando Jr.\u2019s wife, Stacey Medeiros, does the farm\u2019s accounting. His uncle is the manager and grower, and his aunt works in the packaging facilities.<\/p>\n Fernando Sr. still comes around and relishes every opportunity to show off what his family has built.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_margin=”|-100px||-100px” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/foodforott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/mushroom-farm-021.jpg” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_margin=”|||” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_padding=”0|0px|1px|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”30px|0px|22.7656px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center”]<\/p>\n At Carleton Mushroom Farms, a successful farm and cleaner, more environmentally-friendly operations are one and the same. Mike, however, is not done improving.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve been trying to get natural gas for five years now, and it’s just been an uphill battle,\u201d he says, a faint sigh escaping as he speaks. \u201cIt would be more economical for us to be on natural gas.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike says Enbridge, the would-be supplier of natural gas, has regularly increased the cost of building a natural gas pipeline to the farm. It\u2019s nearly tripled to almost $1.5 million since 2013.<\/p>\n White button mushrooms a day from harvesting. Although natural gas emits a greenhouse gas when it\u2019s burned, unlike propane, its environmental impact is a fraction of that from burning oil. The savings are also substantial.<\/p>\n Propane, says Mike, would have to be 15 cents per litre to be as cost-efficient as natural gas. Propane currently costs 42 cents per litre.<\/p>\n Despite barriers to bringing natural gas to the farm, Mike and Fernando say they are undaunted and will keep working towards improving their facilities, partly out of necessity. Fernando says that Ontario carbon taxes ratchet up the pressure to maximize efficiencies.<\/p>\n But chasing efficiencies, according to Fernando, is what farming is all about. \u201cI\u2019m looking at trying to do a four day delivery instead of seven, to have our trucks on the road less.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike Medeiros\u2019s frenetic workday full of interruptions now seems only natural, with each urgent phone message representing a lead on a new way for Carleton Mushroom Farms to get ahead. The Medeiros family has already reaped the benefits of efficient energy once, and natural gas is simply their next prey in an endless hunt for efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>AUDIO<\/strong>:\u00a0Fernando Medeiros describes the effect of rising costs on Carleton Mushroom Farms.<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_padding=”0|0px|21px|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”3px|0px|23.0312px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.17.6″ max_width=”70%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”-25px||50px”]
Photos by Dexter McMillan.<\/span><\/p>\nA better way to burn<\/b><\/h3>\n
Family business<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nThe road ahead<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n
Photo by Dexter McMillan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n