The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

re8 economist suntribune september 17 1986 markham mushroom compan mushrooms on the mov danny paglia uses a sharp knife to cut the fullgrown mushrooms hes coowner of markham mushroom company in box grove fresh white mushrooms are- nutritious fla- vorful and low in calorics and theyre selling better than ever mr paglia should know he sells 180000 pounds of them each year resh fungus a sell rove danny paglia spends long hours at his work producing 180000 pounds of fresh white mushrooms each year as owner of the markham mushroom company located on 14th ave just east of 9th line he says the delectable fungus requires rapt attention seven days a week the company employs six people including mr paglia and two partners together they maintain a watch over the climate in the growing sfieds ensuring that the humidity temperature and lighting is conducive to growing mushrooms mr paglia explained that the mushrooms begin as spawns in flatbeds of fertile soil theyre kept in total dark ness untilpicked when full term the mushrooms are sliced with a knife just under the soil and trucked daily to a wholesale food terminal mushrooms fetch 650 per fivepound package and the growers claim they can sell as much as they can grow all of their produce is bought by queensway food terminal thats why he explained they have no great interest in selling to the public atthis time although the hours are long in mushroom farming condi- tions can be controlled to a much greater extent than other agriculturalcrops theres less risk and prices remain fairly stable an added plus is that mushrooms ha ve been gaining popularity among consumers in the past few years a fact which has helped mr paglias business he passes the credit for increased public awareness of mushrooms to a job well done by the canadian mushroom growers associa tion the association produces re- cipe books full of nutritious mushroom ideas but accord ing to mr paglia the best way to enjoy them is either in spaghetti sauce or in a pork stirfry v- danny paglia checks the maturity of this crop it must be kept at consistent temperature for good results guy calitri sprays water on the flatbeds which must be kept moist for the spawn to mature photos by bill lanning