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Kingsville, ON (Aug 26th) - While making his tour of southwestern Ontario on August 21st, Canadian Environment Minister, The Honourable Jim Prentice made a pit stop at the largest greenhouse marketer in North America to thank the company for their green initiatives.
“It’s the kind of leadership Mastronardi Produce has shown in terms of the environment that I wanted to come here and see firsthand,” stated Jim Prentice. “I am blown away by what I have seen here today, you are the largest, most innovative, most successful producers of vegetables in North America under glass. It’s an extraordinary Canadian success story that Paul, your father, and family should be very proud of,” stated Prentice.
Mastronardi Produce/SUNSET® launched The Green Grass Project™
( www.thegreengrassproject.com ) on Earth Day 2009 to highlight the key elements in the company’s business process that are environmentally friendly. Split in to three phases of Growing, Packaging, and Distribution, Mastronardi has identified 11 aspects of their day to day operations that use recycled materials or are processes that contribute to an eco-friendly environment.
“I know in this day when everyone is concerned about carbon emissions and concerned about the environment, it’s something all Canadians share to have the kind of leadership that we have seen from the Mastronardi family both in respect to this greenhouse and your other facilities. We all take pride in what we do and who we work with but I say to all of you folks who are here today, you deserve to be very very proud of what all you are doing and accomplishing and its certainly something I am going to speak about everywhere I go in our country, so congratulations,” concluded Jim Prentice.
Both Prentice & wife Karen, along with local Member of Parliament Dave Van Kesteren & wife Faye, took time to visit Mastronardi’s greenhouses to sample the award winning Champagne Cocktail Tomato™ that took top honors as the Best Cocktail Tomato and Best Overall Tomato during the Hottest Tomato Competition at the Leamington Tomatofest August 16th.
Before leaving Mastronardi’s facility, Paul Mastronardi presented the Minister of Environment with his own Green Grass Project™ shirt. Paul thanked the Minister for his interest in Mastronardi’s initiatives and encouraged him to develop government funded programs to help businesses get on board and invest in creating a sustainable environment in their own business.
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