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Creating Jobs and Increasing Demand for Ontario Fruits and Vegetables

Norfolk County sits atop light, sandy soil, where the tobacco leaf once flourished. Now that the industry is less than one-tenth its size at the peak, communities in Tobacco Country are looking for new ways to prosper. The increasing demand for local food is providing many opportunities for both producers and food processors.

Naturally Norfolk is a state-of-the-art food processing facility in Norfolk County that is processing locally-grown fruits, vegetables and ginseng in frozen and freeze-dried formats.  This unique facility helps farmers to expand their production of locally grown produce and to help fill the growing consumer demand for local foods. 

 “This project will help create local jobs and increase local production.  This innovative facility will help put more Ontario produce in more stores,” says Jim Irvin, President and CEO of Naturally Norfolk.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is working with producers and food processors right across the province. Through the Rural Economic Development (RED) program, Ontario is helping food processors improve their infrastructure and partner with local farmers to respond to the increasing demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables.  

Another testament to how the RED program is helping local processors is the Algoma Orchards partnership with Wilmot Orchards and the Vineland Growers Cooperative to install innovative processing equipment to produce vast quantities of local apples and pears into juice products.