Ontario invests in ag processing sector

May 09, 2018

The government committed up to $8.5 million for Bonduelle’s expansion project

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The Ontario government is supporting the provincial vegetable processing sector through a multimillion dollar investment.

The Province earmarked up to $8.5 million to help Bonduelle, a vegetable processor, complete a $79.8 million expansion. The project will stretch across facilities in Tecumseh, Ingersoll and Strathroy.

The expansion will allow the facilities to implement new technology to put new products and packaging on domestic and foreign markets.

Bonduelle processes about 250 million pounds of vegetables annually.

And the company’s renovations will also help increase productivity, which is good news for all of Ontario, said Suzanne van Bommel, chair of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers.

“This is tremendous news,” she told Farms.com today. “Food and beverage processing is critical to this province and its economy. Any partnership with ourselves or with government that creates healthy, thriving customers for producers in Ontario can’t be seen as anything but positive.

Van Bommel farms in Belmont, Ont. and grows peas for Bonduelle.

The expansion is also creating more work within agriculture.

Bonduelle will hire 87 more people as a result of the renovations, adding to a provincial ag workforce of about 95,000.

“This strategic investment will also create and retain jobs, boost local economies in Tecumseh, Ingersoll and Strathroy and support the competitiveness and further growth of Ontario’s agri-food sector,” Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said in a statement yesterday.

Tom Morrison/OurWindsor file photo

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.