South Mill Champs Boosts Yield 6.2% with Mycionics Crop Scout | Case Study

South Mill Champs

One of North America's leading vertically integrated mushroom companies supplying premium fresh mushrooms across North America, South Mill Champs is known for their commitment to innovation and responsibly grown produce. In order to more effectively meet the fast-moving demands of the market, SMC partnered with Mycionics to leverage the Crop Scout solution to digitize their harvest, boost yield and reduce labor costs.

"We must focus on investing in automation and data driven decision making. Mycionics is helping us turn mushroom farming into predictable higher yields."
— Mike Pimlott, SVP Operations

The Challenge

Modern mushroom cultivation faces intense challenges managing labor and getting consistently higher yield. Harvesting agaricus mushrooms involves thousands of micro-decisions per shift, requiring pickers to constantly assess the bed, judge which mushrooms are optimal to pick (growth increases at 4%/hour), adjust speeds to match the density of the crop, and do so while protecting quality. Traditionally, the intense environment causes decision fatigue and leaves yield potential on the table without data to validate performance. South Mill Champs needed a solution that would relieve this cognitive load, optimize their growing cycles, and push farm yields to the next level.

"With Crop Scout, data helps us get much more precise about our growing performance, and speeds up our picking. We're seeing consistently substantial yield increases, and labor efficiencies by eliminating decision making."
— Bryan Madden, Farm Director

The Mycionics Crop Scout

In mid-2025, South Mill Champs installed a Mycionics Crop Scout on a single drawer platform within a room of four platforms. This setup enabled a highly controlled, months-long, side-by-side comparison spanning 10 growing cycles. The Mycionics system empowers pickers through "hybrid harvesting," seamlessly blending AI with human adaptability.

By scanning the crop in real time, autopiloting the picking speed and pointing out the perfect mushrooms to pick, the Mycionics Crop Scout delivered immediate, measurable value. The platform with Crop Scout continuously outperformed the standard beds over 9 evaluated cycles.

Weighted Average Performance Summary:

• Flush 1 Yield: Increased by 6.39% (106,630.21 lbs on the Pointer bed vs. 100,227.66 lbs on the standard bed).
• Flush 2 Yield: Increased by 5.74% (50,035.69 lbs on the Pointer bed vs. 47,319.29 lbs on the standard bed).
• Total Overall Yield Increase: 6.18% (156,665.90 lbs vs. 147,546.94 lbs).

With an overall ~6.2% yield increase, the implementation of the Crop Scout is projected to produce an extra 10.5 tons of mushrooms per year, per bed. By embracing collaborative robotics, South Mill Champs has proven that when Physical AI handles precision, decisions, and pace, humans can focus on what they do best: driving exceptional yield, reducing labor strain, and securing a competitive edge in modern farming.

"Crop Scout is making the job for pickers so much easier. They can complete their shift faster, while achieving better results. I love how the system helps the pickers manage speed and accuracy on autopilot."
— Lorretta Luong, Harvest Manager

Award-Winning Results

South Mill Champs won the Langley Chamber of Commerce Innovation Award for implementing Mycionics technology, which offers a sub-one-year payback period through these key features:

• AI "Pointer": Uses machine vision to physically guide pickers to optimal mushrooms, eliminating guesswork.
• Autopilot Bed Control: Automatically adjusts bed speed and positioning based on crop density.
• Actionable Intelligence: Provides real-time heat maps and yield forecasts to optimize farm management and disease control.

The farm is now rolling this out site-wide to streamline labor planning and maximize total yield.

For a downloadable PDF of this Case Study, please click here.

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