Mastronardi offers Sweet Twister pepper
Mastronardi Produce, Kingsville, Ontario, has introduced the Sweet Twister, a long, orange sweet pepper, similar to its Ancient Sweets variety. The company touts the pepper as supersweet, containing few seeds and having no bitter aftertaste.
“The response at United (Fresh 2012 has been) amazing — people love it, how sweet it is and no aftertaste,” said Nancy Pickersgill, events and communications manager. “We hope it’s going to be available everywhere.”
Also new this year, Mastronardi offers a reusable produce bag for the retail market. The cloth bag will be sold with peppers inside and can be stored in refrigerator crisper drawers and reused by the consumer.
“Being environmentally friendly is something that consumers look for, and having something that could be reused is a positive,” Pickersgill said.
Nature Fresh to try out 80 pepper varieties
Nature Fresh Farms, Leamington, Ontario, again will conduct more than 80 pepper variety trials and more than 60 beefsteak tomato variety trials this year.
This information is shared with seed companies to help select up-and-coming varieties.
“Because of these trials, we’re always a little ahead of the curve when it comes to new, exciting varieties,” said Peter Quiring, president.
Oppenheimer uses carbon capture system
Vancouver, British Columbia-based The Oppenheimer Group’s pepper partner SunSelect, along with its sister company ProSelect Gas Treating, has unveiled a new carbon capture system called GC6.
Carbon capture is a clean energy technology that aims to prevent the release of large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and this system has a unique application to greenhouse produce production, said Aaron Quon, greenhouse category director at The Oppenheimer Group.
GC6 has made it possible for the carbon dioxide produced in the greenhouse heating process to be converted into fertilizer for the pepper plants.
Now employed on 40 acres under glass at SunSelect, GC6 is the first carbon capture system designed specifically for the greenhouse industry, Quon said.
Prime Time hires packing director
Coachella, Calif.-based Prime Time International recently added two new faces: Jack Schmidt, director of packing operations, and Orlando Gracia, harvesting and field operations. Both joined within the last year.
“They are bringing good expertise to our company,” said Mike Aiton, director of marketing.
Wiers Farm expands packing facility
Wiers Farm in Willard, Ohio, added extensions to its packing facility to allow space for a recently purchased 60-foot hydrocooler that will add two and a half times the production, said Ben Wiers, vice president of operations.
“This is so we can continue to increase over the coming years with different products,” he added.
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