OUR STORY

Our family business began in 1970 when Geoff Izard and his family needed to diversify from their fruit property.  The 15-acre fruit property in Merbein South, Victoria had been held in the family for three generations, so selling was not an option.  Geoff Izard and a close friend decided over a dinner that he should grow mushrooms.  Geoff learnt how, by devoting long and arduous hours researching and asking questions to anybody that could help him.  He grew mushrooms under the name “Merbein Mushrooms”.  Soon he was producing 500kgs of fresh white quality mushrooms per week with only a team of five. Geoff and his first wife Helen and their three young children enjoyed growing up and experiencing life on the farm.  Along the way, the children helped their parents where they could.  Linda Izard, the eldest daughter commenced working in the business after leaving school, setting up the office and working across all aspects of the business.

Philip Rogers was well known to the Izards and started working at the family farm in 1989.  He came with extensive experience in accounting, systems, rostering and management.  He quickly became involved in the growing of mushrooms, marketing and composting.  Composting became his passion. He continually studied and experimented to increase his knowledge to get the best possible results.  Phil and Linda were engaged in 1989 and married in 1991. 

Then in 1992, Geoff Izard purchased a run-down mushroom farm in Woodcroft, South Australia. After a lot of hard work, the farm was bought back to a suitable facility to grow mushrooms again.  The two farms grew mushrooms for the South Australian market under the banner of Merbein Mushrooms and together produced up to 26 tonnes of white mushrooms per week.  Phil and Linda were directors of both companies. 

In 2006, Phil and Linda Rogers purchased the Adelaide farm and traded under the name of P&L Rogers Pty Ltd.  The farm was then producing around 24 tonnes of white and Swiss brown mushrooms a week and supplied with mushroom compost from Merbein Mushrooms.  It soon became the vision for the company to build their own composting facility.

 In 2017 that became a reality.  Phil and Linda’s son Jaylon moved back to Adelaide from Sydney to take on the role as a Project Manager, to design and oversee the build of a brand-new state of the art composting facility.  As a Civil Structural Engineer, he had great experiences in building bridges throughout Australia and his knowledge and expertise would be of great benefit.  Phil and Jaylon travelled to The Netherlands seeking out the latest technology.  It was during this business trip Jaylon met his partner Iris Rippens and one year later she moved to Australia.  With her background in International Business and Languages she joined the family team. 

The compost facility – in Port Wakefield, South Australia was completed and commissioned in July 2018, realising a dream to be self-sufficient and have vertical integration.  Since opening the composting facility, we have been able to achieve both an increase in production and an improvement in quality.  The privately-owned businesses now employ 80 people, produce and pack over 40 tonnes of mushrooms per week and distribute throughout Australia. 

In July 2020, both companies rebranded:  Pure Mushrooms and Pure Compost was launched.

The rebranding coincides with the family succession plan.  Phil has stepped back from the day to day running of the business, and although Linda still works in the office, the reins have been handed over to the next generation.  Jaylon and Iris together with their experience and skills now successfully run the business.  They both have great passion for fresh produce and seek to continuously develop and improve the business with a long-term view on the future.  Both companies are blessed with an amazing team and at all times honesty and respect have been highly valued in our businesses.  Every day we strive to maintain a warm-hearted family culture within the company and work with great passion to provide your family with the highest quality of fresh mushrooms.