Before Emilio Mastronardi would eventually take over the helm at Ridge Farms in Leamington, Ontario from his father, there was a lot of picking and packing to do. “It started when I was eight years old,” he remembers, “summers mainly, alongside fitting in school work.”
Ridge Farms uses Luxous Light screens for energy savings and high light levels, and Harmony 5747 FR to shade the walkways.
“The operation was smaller then,” he says. “We grew the cucumbers and then later the tomatoes into the ground and I came to love the inspection process – seeing how over six to eight weeks you could grow a tomato to harvest, year-round.”
That fascination with the leaves, flowers and fruits was what led him to switch majors at Trent University from agriculture to biology, before starting a job at a research facility and learning all about the latest trends in the greenhouse industry.
And today, his passion for plants and growing technology is apparent at Ridge Farms. It shows in how Mastronardi starts most days inspecting the vines, but is also evident in the gleaming 11-acre facility – climate controlled, Priva automated and with Svensson screens overhead.
“It was a lesson from my time at the research facility,” Mastronardi recalls, “that every greenhouse should have screens.”
“I would absolutely choose Svensson again,” he says. “In fact, we are currently looking at expanding and we’re going to implement Svensson screens.”
Screens that shape the climate
Ridge Farms has Harmony 5747 FR screens to provide shade over the walkways, and Luxous Light screens for energy saving, he says.
“The Luxous saves us 47% of the energy cost and the combination makes sure we don’t lose yields during the peak summer months. In the summer that same screen provides useful sun protection.”
Mastronardi explains that during July and August the screens prevent heatwaves from reducing yields and affecting the quality of the fruit: “We get a stronger tomato, with much better shelf life and taste,” he says.
The screen combination has created a more modern environment, with a homogenized climate that ensures consistent crop growth right up to the edges.
“Maintaining a harmonized, uniform crop throughout your entire facility—with consistent plants from the front to the back of the greenhouse—creates a more optimal growing environment,” says Emilio Mastronardi.
“We can grow a more precise crop by having the screens implemented. My favorite part about using the Svensson screens is the control it gives me, to shade my crop and have a better overall climate,” he says.
A key decider in working with Svensson, aside from the recommendation of the greenhouse builders, has been the optionality in the range of products. “It doesn’t matter if we go for a lighted crop, or an unlighted crop, because Svensson has the options for both,” he adds.
At Ridge Farms, grower Emilio Mastronardi partners with Svensson’s Dustin Mater to keep pushing climate control to the next level.
Automation, sustainability and rebates
Being able to connect climate screens with the climate computer has been a major factor as well.
“From looking at the weather ten days out and adjusting heating, to the percentage the screens are open, and irrigation and fertilization.”
The efficiency of the automation means Ridge Farms can avoid a lot of emissions from the burning of natural gas and optimize the CO2 that is brought from the boilers into the greenhouse.
“It changed my life knowing that I have systems actively watching my farm when I might be doing something else on the farm,” Emilio Mastronardi says.
When Mastronardi purchased the screens, he applied for the new Svensson screens through Enbridge Gas’s Agricultural Incentive Program and received the full CAN $200,000 rebate. “I worked closely with Svensson and Enbridge Gas to apply for the incentive. These facilities are pretty expensive, so to get any help we can along the way is great.”
It was a growing sense of pride in his father’s business that got Emilio Mastronardi hooked on growing, and that’s something he feels today in the tomatoes that Ridge Farm is known for. He says that at the end of the day, all this technology and control is about producing a nicer tomato.
“Nicer fruit is very important,” he says. “At Ridge Farms, we want to make sure we produce a nice tomato and feel proud of producing it.”
