Canadian greenhouses report record-breaking harvests

JC Fresh and Orangeline Farms, located in Ontario, Canada, report record-breaking harvests. JC Fresh Farms produces a record 315,700 pounds of grape/medley tomatoes. Orangeline Farms produces a record of over 14,000 cases of sweet snack peppers. Both companies are part of Betterment Harvest.

The record-setting second week of May production follows a successful 2023 crop planting and an initial pick that was one week earlier compared to last year. Additionally, the farms have secured record contract pricing for the 2023 season.

JC Fresh Farms comprises 33 acres of hi-tech double poly greenhouses with the ability to expand operations by an additional 17 acres of high-tech diffused glass. The facility is located in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, and is currently in production with a focus on the exclusive specialty tomato class.

Orangeline Farms, located in Leamington, Ontario, resides on 120 acres of land and is comprised of 20 acres of hi-tech, double poly greenhouse and an additional 12-acre hi-tech glass facility. The facility is currently in production with a focus on the exclusive sweet, snack-pepper market. Orangeline expects to grow nearly 500,000 pepper plants during the 2023 growing season, yielding approximately 5 million pounds of product annually.

Matt Tatomir, Co-President of Betterment Harvest and Founder of JC Fresh and Orangeline Farms, commented, "We applaud our world-class team for a great start to this season and the 2023 year where we have been outperforming on almost every metric. Also, the technology we have implemented, along with gained efficiencies in picking practices, has enabled us to materially reduce our operating costs. We are proud of the accomplishments we have made to date, and we believe we can continue to gain on our current momentum throughout the rest of the season."

Betterment Harvest's record production week included:

• 14,200 cases of sweet, mini-snack peppers at Orangeline Farms;
• Over 315,700 pounds of grape/medley tomatoes at JC Fresh Farms; and
• On a consolidated basis, it generated a record weekly revenue of $894,500.

Customer and Sales Channels
"Both JC Fresh Farms' and Orangeline Farms' crop are fully committed to produce marketers and on fixed-price contracts, which allow for solid revenue forecasting and management of both variable and fixed costs," the teams add. "The contractual arrangement allows us to lock in revenue and access to the world's leading retailers requiring hundreds of thousands of pounds weekly."