Ontario residents know the look and taste of a locally grown strawberry—they’re smaller and sweeter than some of the other varieties available on grocery store shelves and generally only available in the early summer months. So with hopes of tapping into this market, a year-round greenhouse-grown Ontario strawberry, called SMUCCIES™, was recently introduced.
“We started the project in the early parts of last year and we’ve obviously been trialing it for the last three years but commercially it’s just been this year,” says Danny Mucci. And consumers are responding positively. It’s unheard of to have locally grown strawberries in Ontario for the winter months so the response is great.” We consistently receive positive comments and feedback from consumers on our website regarding our SMUCCIES™ – Most are pleasantly surprised by their sweetness and flavour profile for winter berries grown locally.
Expansion plans
For now, the company is supplying Ontario retailers only with these “Award Winning” SMUCCIES™ sweet strawberries. Providing locally grown products all year round is a goal of ours “We actually have 45 acres of other product lines such as tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce under lit culture to prolong the growing season, and that will be in full effect for 2017-2018,” says Mucci.
Growing more than strawberries
The other part of the operation is growing a number of leafy greens as well. “We have our Naked Leaf TM, Living Lettuce and Herbs line that we’re growing 12 months in Ontario,” says Mucci. In addition to the lettuce, the company is also growing fresh herbs such as basil, watercress and arugula.
Our Naked Leaf hydroponic system is fully automated from planting stage to the harvesting. All lettuces and herbs are packaged with the root intact, offering consumers a fresher and longer shelf life option for leafy greens.
For more information: