Mastronardi Produce is eyeing a new market in which to develop clusters of controlled agriculture partnerships and facilities, in its continued efforts to advance sustainable methods that meet the growing demand for fresh produce.
The first of such endeavors includes an agreement with the investment firm AgriCapital Holdings Corp. to support the development of a new Agropark in Panama.
“There is no question that we need to address the growing concern of food insecurity, and Controlled Environment Agriculture is a prime solution that is poised for rapid growth,” says Dean Taylor, Vice President of Business Development for Mastronardi Produce Ltd. “As leaders in the industry, we are continuously looking for opportunities to deliver more, sustainably-grown produce to people in an efficient way. That includes finding new markets and helping them develop with our support.”
Mastronardi will provide expertise, guidance and training to the new Agropark Panama, which aims to be the first 100% clean energy agrologistics park in the world. The goal of the agropark is to provide state of the art infrastructure for farms that need to expand their growing operations but are confronting increasing limitations in the availability of labor for their Controlled Environment Agriculture operations. The project also will help expand job creation in the rural areas of Panama and Central America.
“We could not find a better advisor and ally for our project” said Juan Carlos Mastellari, Managing Partner of AgriCapital Holdings. “We admire the Mastronardi team and the magic they have done with the Sunset brand.”
The company believes Panama is a market that is well set-up to deliver on growth expectations. Its geographic location, including the Panama Canal’s Connectivity platform, means that goods can reach major markets within 4 days by sea, and as one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, it is already moving a large number of goods to the U.S. including bananas and pineapples.
