When it comes to energy efficiency, Cedar Beach Acres is equally
innovative. A biomass boiler fueled by waste wood helps to heat
the greenhouse, and plans to install wind turbines are in the
works.
It's that same forward-looking approach that led Mastronardi
to participate in the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs' Traceability Pilot Project. Traceability is a system
that tracks all the inputs, production activities and finished
products so that in the event of a recall, product can quickly
be traced back - within hours, Mastronardi boasts.
"We wanted to be one step ahead of everybody else,"
he explains. "It's such a competitive market out there that
you have to have an edge on somebody to maintain your key accounts."
The system is straightforward. When the vegetables are harvested,
workers punch in the day, hour, and number of crates filled from
a particular row at computer terminals installed on each post
within the greenhouse.
Inside the packing shed, each box of produce is then labeled
with a unique lot number that enables Cedar Beach Acres to track
it back to the precise row, the day it was picked, and the employee
who picked it.
Traceability has proved to be a big selling point for the chain
stores that are Mastronardi's main clientele, from Toronto down
to South Carolina and as far west as the Pacific coast.
"They're very happy that we're taking this initiative,"
he says. "If there ever was a problem, say in a grocery store
in Washington State, they can basically trace it all the way back
to the row and day it was picked just by the barcode on the side
of the box."
The pilot project has created other benefits as well. Cedar Beach
Acres now has a live feed that links their operations with their
distributor, Pure Hothouse Food.
Thanks to this seamless connection, the information from the
greenhouse inventory control system is automatically transferred
to Pure Hothouse, reducing work and avoiding errors by eliminating
the need for double entry.
It also gives their distributor real-time inventory numbers,
helping Pure Hothouse to fill customer orders more quickly and
accurately.
Implementing the system wasn't onerous. Greenhouse staff needed
very little training to learn how to use the inventory control
software, and managers quickly adapted to the paperwork requirements.
Mastronardi wasn't sure how receptive his employees would be to
a new system, but it turns out he needn't have worried. "They're
pretty happy with it," he says. "It gives them accountability."
And, ultimately, accountability is the goal. "Basically,
we're trying to be the industry leader in food traceability,"
says Mastronardi.
Traceability brings benefits:
By implementing a traceability system, Cedar Beach Acres:
Funding for the Food Safety Initiative
Traceability Grant Program and Pilot Project was provided under
the Agriculture Policy framework, a federal-provincial-territorial
initiative.
Figure 1: Robert Mastronardi,
Manager of Cedar Beach Acres Ltd. 
