Mother Earth is a free and untempered spirit, smiling impishly at any illusions of control we think we might have in her domain, always dancing just out of reach. But there are those that seek to raise walls of glass within her realm, and inside reigns her even wilder sibling: The Queen of Greens.
Few categories know nature’s wrath like that of leafy greens. Fewer still have the resources and the track record to map the dance steps to maneuver around that wrath. Mastronardi Produce® stands among those few, having brought a radical touch to tomatoes, peppers, berries, and, now, leafy greens.
The new Queen of Greens, a symbol the company sings as the wild sister to Mother Earth, extends control of the entire supply chain and security back to the grower, buyer, and, finally, the consumer, creating new rhythms and patterns beyond the challenges of seasons passed. Julia Shreve, Director of Brand and Innovation, takes a spin with me.
Julia Shreve: We know that there is a way to grow lettuce that solves a lot of frequent issues in food safety within the category. So, the vision for Queen of Greens is to revolutionize lettuce and improve people's experience by delivering a better product people can trust.
Lettuce is the largest category in fresh produce, according to IRI Unify, but the reality is that people are becoming more and more scared to buy and eat lettuce. The category has really suffered under disease pressure for the last couple of years. Our team started looking at some of the issues and opportunities within that category, and there are many on both sides. Then we started talking to consumers and learning about what they're looking for and what matters the most to them, and we built a product offering around what we learned from all sides.
JS: I would—we are absolutely leveraging our expertise in research and development (R&D) and our relationships with seed companies to be able to find, trial, and deliver the best varieties in the world. At Mastronardi, we are well known as greenhouse pioneers and I think we built a lot of our success on innovating and revolutionizing categories. We did it with tomatoes. Now, we're doing it with berries and so, looking at the lettuce category—a category that needs some change—it was a natural choice for us.
And that doesn’t go just for the product but how it is presented. There is a personality and a story to each of our products and the line to which they belong and that story continues with our Queen of Greens.
JS: Well, you hit the nail on the head when you called her “wild.” As we unveiled when we launched Queen of Greens, her story is how our queen is the wild sister of Mother Earth. That spirit inspired us throughout the four SKUs; Spirited Spring Mix, a beautiful blend of colors and flavors and shapes; Raging Romaine, a blend of red and green sweet baby romaine; Unruly Arugula, a nice peppery, tender baby arugula; and Fierce Mix, a spring mix with a kick of arugula.
Our very talented internal graphic design team took that strategy and built some really beautiful branding and graphics that are both bold and modern and are really different from anything that you see on the shelf, from us or anyone else.
JS: So, one of the biggest differences between what we describe as our “high-tech lettuce” and conventionally grown lettuce is that high-tech lettuce is not grown in soil. Right off the bat, you are eliminating the risks related to soil contamination. Secondly, with our growing system, nobody is touching this lettuce from seeding to packing, so again you're really reducing the risk related to contamination. Thirdly, our growing systems use significantly less land and water than other forms of farming, so it's a more sustainable growing method while allowing us to place greenhouses much closer to communities we serve, in some cases even right in the communities we serve. In that way, we're reducing food miles while delivering a product that is fresher and has a better shelf-life.
JS: Retailers should know that we are going to be putting a lot of attention and investment behind this business. We passionately believe that there is a better way to grow leafy greens and that we are going to be the ones to drive the growth and change that the category needs. And if you want to see how for yourself, our new items will be available across major markets by the end of this year.
Siblings, though generally born rivals, often complement each other—a yin and yang. Where one follows the rules, the other bends them. Likewise, Mother Earth, solid and sturdy, seems final and unyielding, but fluid water finds her way around and through what passed as law to forge a new dance. And no one makes new rules quite like a queen. 
