Nature Fresh Farms, headquartered in Leamington, ON, has recently signed on to the Produce Marketing Association eatbrighter! campaign in association with “Sesame Street.” The company will be developing strategic packaging with key “Sesame Street” characters to encourage kids of all ages to make healthier choices and to #eatbrighter. A formal announcement will be released to the trade in late February with a product unveiling scheduled for March

The company is currently shipping an extensive variety of greenhouse tomatoes, Bell peppers, mini cucumbers and English cucumbers. In Leamington it operates out of a 130-acre high-tech facility, and it works with growing partners for year-round supplies of high-quality greenhouse produce.

Ray Wowryk, director of business development, said the current production is a combination of a mix from both Canada and Mexico.

“Most product at this time of the year is coming from Mexico,” he noted. “Nature Fresh Farms’ greenhouses in Canada produce vegetables from mid-March through mid-December. Our partner greenhouse growers in Mexico produce us from late November through late April.”

Nature Fresh Farms’ perfectly beautiful colored sweet peppers. (Photo courtesy of Nature Fresh Farms, 2015)Other news, issued in a press release on Jan. 5, is that growing fresh vegetables in the Mid-west is about to take a major turn in a new direction as Nature Fresh Farms announced a large-scale investment in northwest Ohio. The company plans to begin construction on a 175-acre greenhouse facility in Delta, OH, in the spring of 2015.

“This is an exciting time for Nature Fresh Farms as we expand our operations to include a U.S. growing facility,” Peter Quiring, president of the company stated in the release. “This development will allow us to better serve our Ohio customers with locally grown produce year-round, and continue to grow our U.S. operations.”

Contingent upon acceptable levels of incentives from the state of Ohio and other government authorities, as well as utility rates agreeable to Nature Fresh, the company would be poised to ship its first case of vegetables in December. The greenhouse project will be completed in several phases over the next seven years with a total investment approaching $200M by the year 2022. When completed it will be approximately 180 acres. The plan is to begin by building a 15-acre greenhouse and expand over a seven-year period. The company will eventually hire 300 people to work in the greenhouse.

“Nature Fresh Farms’ intention to open its first U.S. production facility in Delta is great news for northwest Ohio,” Aaron Pitts, Jobs-Ohio managing director commented in the release. “We look forward to working closely with the Nature Fresh Farms team and our local partners as the company establishes operations in the United States.”

Nature Fresh Farms has partnered with Jobs-Ohio, the Regional Growth Partnership, the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, York Township and the Village of Delta after an extensive search for the optimal site for this expansion project.

The Delta site was selected due to its easy access to current and future customers as well as proximity to the company’s headquarters. Nature Fresh Farms is also exploring a partnership with Northstar/Bluescope Steel to utilize carbon dioxide and waste heat from their operations. This innovative and environmentally beneficial partnership will be one of the first of its kind anywhere in the United States.

“The proposed investment by Nature Fresh Farms is an exciting project for the York Township, the village of Delta, and surrounding communities,” stated Matt Gilroy, executive director of the Fulton County Economic Development Corp. “The company plans to employ more than 300 people by the last phase of the project and its payroll at the Fulton County location will be nearly $12 million annually. We welcome Nature Fresh Farms to Fulton County and will work diligently to meet the company’s needs and to complete the project successfully.”

Wowryk explained that Nature Fresh Farms is constantly improving is automation for picking, packing and shipping. He also noted that Nature Fresh Farms has a vast network of retail partners across Canada and the U.S.

“We have seen a strong increase in retail relationships in the last 12 months due to a stronger product offering, consistent and exceptional quality as well as new product introductions,” he said. “The company distributes throughout Canada and the U.S. In the U.S., we ship predominantly in the Midwest and the East Coast.”

Wowryk also announced that Nature Fresh Farms has recently hired Melissa Roy as its new marketing coordinator.