When Nature Fresh Farms started adding organic items to its product offering, it started with just organic bell peppers. “We started out with nine organic acres in Leamington,” says Ray Wowryk with Nature Fresh Farms. At the end of 2017, the nine acres had expanded into 15 and since then, the company has added 30 more organic acres. “This brings our current organic acreage to 60, making us one of the largest growers of Organics in North America,” Wowryk shared. Over the next few years, the company anticipates doubling its current organic acreage.
Organic red grape tomatoes.
Increase in demand
What drives the expansion? “Consumers have become increasingly food-conscious and aware of how and where their food is grown,” said Wowryk. “We still witness an increase in consumer demand for organic produce and our expansion and category growth have been in response to growing demand. It offers great growth potential.”
While the company started out with organic bell peppers, today its organic products include the tomato, pepper and cucumber categories. For each category, multiple varieties are offered in organic format and the company’s organic range includes bell peppers, tomatoes-on-the-vine, beefsteak tomatoes, mixed cherry tomatoes, red grape tomatoes, long English cucumbers, mini cucumbers and mini sweet peppers.
“Although our organic items are currently only grown in Leamington, they are available in stores throughout Canada and the United States. In addition, some of our growing partners in Mexico offer organic varieties.”
Sustainable mindset
While expansion of the organic category is largely driven by increased consumer demand, Nature Fresh Farms also maintains a sustainable mindset. “This is reflected in our packaging,” said Wowryk. “We remain committed to the environment and have been focusing on recyclable and compostable packaging solutions within all our categories.” Recently, the company introduced a compostable fiber tray in some of its packaging and Wowryk is proud of the impact. “From June 2019 until January 2020, our compostable trays have prevented over 80,000 pounds of Styrofoam ending up in a landfill.”
Compostable tray for organic mini cucumbers.
This weekend, Nature Fresh Farms will be exhibiting at Southern Exposure. With Organics being the company’s big theme for the show, there will be a large selection of organic items on display. Stop by booth #539.
For more information:
Kara Badder
Nature Fresh Farms
Tel: +1 (519) 326-1111
info@naturefresh.ca
www.naturefresh.ca