Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Matt Quiring, left and Benny Teichroeb, with Nature Fresh Farm’s Greenhouse awards.
Southpoint Sun - 17
Representing Sunset are, from left, Nancy Pickersgill, Peppe Bonfiglio and Jaclyn Ducharme.
Nature Fresh takes home Sunset wins several greenhouse awards greehouse awards LEAMINGTON — The Greenhouse Competitions in Leamington made a return this year hosting its annual Greenhouse Vegetable Awards on Friday, June 11. Showcasing the best greenhouse-grown produce from leading North American growers, family-owned Nature Fresh Farms came back to the competition, prevailing in their yearly tradition of receiving many top accolades, including overall winner of the Hottest Tomato with their newest Umami Cherry Tomato, in addition to winning the Bite-Sized Tomato category with their Axiany placing third, Orange Cherry receiving second, and their Umami Cherry Tomato awarded first place. Nature Fresh Farms took home awards in the following categories: Best Overall Tomato; Best Tomato on the Vine, Cluster Tomato Category 1st and 2nd place; Best Bite-Sized Tomato Category 1st, 2nd, 3rd; Best Specialty Tomato; Sweet-
est Strawberry 2nd; Coolest Cucumber, English Cucumber Category 2nd; Hottest Tomato, Beefsteak Category 2nd; Hottest Tomato, Roma Tomato Category 3rd; Perfect Pepper Category - Orange Bell 2nd, Red Bell 2nd, Yellow Bell 2nd. The Greenhouse Competitions has been a local event that Nature Fresh Farms looks forward to every year and are always proud of placing and especially honored to earn top spots for some of their favorite varieties. “Every year this event draws a lot of local attention with the grower base,” said Matt Quiring, Director of Sales. “It is always great validation to see that our growing processes and seed selection strategies are paying off. With this year being our first year entering into the strawberry segment, we are excited to have also received second place overall, proving that we will be a force to contend with in the future.”
KINGSVILLE – Leaders in flavour: it’s what Sunset is best known for. At this year’s 14th Annual Leamington Greenhouse Competition, flavour prevailed once again, as the company earned many awards, including several for first place, during the two-day competition. Sunset saw a repeat performance for Best Overall Strawberry by its WOW dreamberry and also repeated its win for Best Overall Cucumbers with its mini seedless cucumber. One Sweet Cucumbers and Qukes™ won top spots in the cocktail cucumber category. The uniquely striped Aloha pepper won Best Specialty Bell Pepper and Yowzers red chili peppers won Best Specialty Hot Pepper. Sunset orange bell pepper also received first place in its category. And finally, Campari won best cocktail tomato. “Flavor comes first in everything
we do, always,” said Paul Mastronardi, President and CEO of Mastronardi Produce. “Flavor brings people together. It’s a part of our conversations, it’s a part of falling in love with food and remembering that exact moment you tasted something incredible – and we are providing that experience. Receiving these awards is always an honour, and it’s a humbling feeling to be recognized and supported by our local community.” Each entry is judged through a blind taste test by a panel of experts, including representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, chefs, and produce managers. The annual greenhouse competition is hosted by R.E.A.C.H. International, a locally funded charitable organization. Proceeds from the competition are used to support the development of schools and clinics in Uganda.
Mucci Farms featured vendor in Ontario’s Metro stores KINGSVILLE — Mucci Farms has become a featured vendor in Metro’s Locally Sourced program for 2021. The program began in 2016 and helps find new, impactful ways to spotlight its local vendors. Through the program, Metro sources and supports local food vendors across seven regions in Ontario through promotion within their stores. Over 800
local products from more than 150 local suppliers are currently available in their stores across the province. Mucci Farms is well known in this area as a world-class grower of greenhouse vegetables. They are a vertically integrated greenhouse grower dedicated to maximizing quality, food safety and efficiency using worldclass technology and
clean farming practices. As a forward thinking organization, Mucci Farms places an emphasis on sustainability, environmental responsibility and reducing food miles to offer consumers with the best quality of fruits and vegetables in the market 365 days a year. Mucci is one of Metro’s fresh vendors who uses non-traditional methods to grow fresh
produce inside a greenhouse. Mucci’s humble beginnings started over 60 years ago when two brothers from Italy immigrated to Canada with a passion to grow fresh, flavourful, fruits and vegetables. A generation later, Tony and Gino’s children have taken the company to new heights with a variety of commodities, aggressive expansions and the launch of
Mucci International Marketing Inc., the Sales & Marketing arm of the organization. Mucci Farms has a variety of produce they grow from their greenhouses including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, mushroom, lettuce and herb, strawberries, all of which also comes organic.
