Adelaide exotic mushroom farm to succeed former Holden factory in Elizabeth after five-year shutdown
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You’ll never believe what one of Australia’s former Holden car factories is turning into, as FUNGI grows on the walls.
- The former Adelaide Holden Factory becomes a mushroom farm
- The factory closed in 2017 leaving 945 workers laid off
- The $110 million farm is expected to create 350 full-time jobs
A factory that used to produce some of Australia’s most iconic cars is set to become the country’s largest manufacturer of exotic mushrooms.
The new mushroom farm in Elizabeth, north Adelaide, takes over the former Holden factory, which closed after 54 years of production in 2017.
The $110 million farm, run by Epicurean Food Group, is expected to annually produce 22,000 tons of exotic mushrooms, including Oyster, Shiitake, Enoki, King Oyster and Lion’s Mane variants.
“Holden will always be difficult to replace, this is part of the solution,” South Australian Trade Minister Nick Champion said.
Adelaide’s former Holden Factory in Elizabeth (pictured) was converted to a mushroom farm after it is expected to produce 22,000 tonnes of exotic mushrooms annually.
Australia’s only vertically integrated mushroom plant is initially in small-scale production with just six grow rooms producing mushrooms.
The old factory offers a spacious environment for growing mushrooms.
“You need to replicate a rainforest with the effect of a butterfly, you can’t have wind pushing the fungus at all,” said Kenneth King, chief executive of Epicurean Food Group.
Epicurean and the SA government hope that by the end of 2024 the farm will be expanded to fill the entire 35,000 square meter space with rows of story-high mushrooms.
‘[The farm is] Specially designed grow rooms to house…exotic varieties will be built in columns up to 13 meters high as the development takes shape in various buildings,” the SA Department of Trade and Investment wrote in a press release.
The Elizabeth Holden factory operated for 54 years before launching the last Australian-made Holden in 2017, leaving 945 workers laid off.
The factory is expected to create around 350 full-time jobs once it is fully operational, with some of Holden’s factory workers as part of the initial 31-person team.
“It’s good to see that it’s not wasted, that it’s being used again,” said Daniel Higgins, a former Holden worker turned mushroom grower.
South Australia already accounts for 17 percent of Australia’s mushroom production, yet 85 percent of all mushrooms sold in Australia are imported.
“This unique, large-scale approach will help increase that number, fix a broken supply chain, and capitalize on the growing popularity of mushrooms across the country,” the SA Department of Trade and Investment wrote.
The final stage of the farm is to start producing mycoprotein, used in alternative meats, and mycelium, used in sustainable leather, to capitalize on a billion dollar international market that is currently undertapped in Australia.
The Holden factory removed the last Australian-made Holden from the factory floor in October 2017, leaving 945 workers laid off.