Pocono Organics

About Pocono Organics

Pocono Organics is a 380-acre regenerative, organic certified farm in beautiful Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Pocono has over 38,000 square feet of greenhouse space and is also the world’s first and only regenerative, organic certified hemp grower. With a focus on agrotourism, the farm also sells their products at their on-site cafe and market. Their customers also include supermarkets throughout the region.

The Challenge

Pocono Organics wanted to build a mushroom fruiting chamber in their main processing facility, but needed to construct a 400-square-foot room that supports the sensitive fungi’s growing and harvesting conditions. Most of Pocono Organic’s buildings are painted cinder blocks which are porous and not easy to clean.

A mushroom fruiting chamber needs to be a clean, controlled area to ensure that the mushrooms don’t get contaminated with other types of bacteria or fungi. As a permanent structure, the walls needed to be able to be sprayed/washed 1-2 times a week, durable, and able to stand high humidity without absorbing moisture. Because Pocono Organics sells their farm products in grocery settings as well as in their on-site cafe and at their sister resort, all food needs to pass rigorous food safety standards and be of the highest quality for consumption.

The Solution

Pocono Organic’s maintenance superintendent, Daniel Sheehan, was tasked with finding a wall and ceiling solution for the mushroom fruiting chamber that would accommodate the finicky fungi’s ideal growing conditions and also be as easy to clean as possible. After a search for PVC panels, Daniel chose to purchase U.S. Polymer’s product, Duramax, due to its water-proof, mold-resistant, and easy-to-install properties.

“Working with the folks at Duramax to secure the wall and ceiling panels was a seamless process,” said Daniel. “I even had some last minute changes and additions to my order and they were able to accommodate those before the long journey from their processing plant in California to our farm in Pennsylvania. The video they have online that shows how to install the product was also straight-forward and easy to apply to a real-life application.”

The entire installation process of the panels was completed within a week’s time and Daniel noted that besides adding silicone caulking between the joints, the Duramax installation was a one-step process.

The Duramax Difference

The market for mushrooms is currently booming. Last year, the New York Times named mushrooms “the ingredient of the year”, and as culinary influencers, media outlets and even retailers continue to market the popular fungi, the ‘shroom boom isn’t slowing any time soon. “Pocono Organics will be adding panels to their mushroom incubation room surrounding their flow hood where the mushroom blocks are inoculated (creating a cleanable, laboratory-style setting) and Duramax would be our first choice for wall and ceiling construction to upgrade this room as well. It’s already done an amazing job of keeping our mushroom fruiting chamber free of outside contaminants and it’s extremely easy to clean. We spray or mop down the walls at least 1-2 times a week and with the Duramax panels it’s just so quick to complete,” said Daniel.