June 25, 2009, Chatham, Ont. – Ontario is helping Thames Van Farms Ltd.
create jobs and become a globally competitive cucumber grading facility.
June 25, 2009, Chatham, Ont. – Ontario is helping Thames Van Farms Ltd. create jobs and become a globally competitive cucumber grading facility.
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The province is providing more than $1 million to help retrofit the company’s green shipping facility in Chatham-Kent. The project will help the facility process more cucumbers, thereby increasing the potential for new contracts for up to 150 local producers.
“We know that through this project we will be able to build new relationships for growers that will open new markets and highlight Ontario cucumbers as the best in world,” said Jeff VanRoboys, general manager of Thames Van Farms Ltd. “This investment not only allows Ontario growers to effectively compete with imported hand harvest cucumbers from foreign markets like India, but increases acreage, raises farm gate sales and creates jobs for the economy.”
The project will also help create and retain 100 full and part time plant positions and more than 2,000 seasonal jobs.
“By increasing the productivity within Thames Van Farms Ltd, we will have the opportunity to replenish approximately 1,000 acres worth of high-value crop that was lost through increased foreign competition and volatile markets,” said Maria Van Bommel, MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. “This project will create and retain jobs within our region.”
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