Kingsville, ON<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Welcome to Behind the Greens. On this episode, Paul Mastronardi, President, Mastronardi Produce joins AndNowUKnow from the company's newest greenhouse in Coldwater, Michigan. The new facility was completed in December 2011 and the company started producing tomatoes there in March. Mastronardi will begin building phase 2 of the greenhouse in 2013. For the first time, the facility will be providing flavorful, non-GMO tomatoes in the middle of Winter in the Midwest.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> With the technology that the company has implemented at the Coldwater greenhouse, every harvest cart is equipped with a RFID tag which enables the computer to track every case that is harvested and put a PTI trace label on each case. This will tell where it is harvested in the greenhouse, which row and from which picker.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Currently, the company is growing tomatoes on the vine, grape tomatoes, and specialty tomatoes in the greenhouse facility. Mastronardi uses IPM, integrated pest management, which helps the grower eliminate the need for pesticides. All packaging is environmentally friendly and either has recyclable content or is biodegradable. As with all Sunset products, the items are chosen for maximum flavor and the facility has special varieties as well for flavor to be grown under grow lights. <hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
