The province of Ontario – through its Rural Economic Development Program – has given fruit and vegetable producers and contract buyers in Norfolk County (Southwestern Ontario) $1 million, reports a release on the Ministry of Agriculture Food & Rural Affairs’ website.
Through the program, Ontario is helping Naturally Norfolk Inc. to:
• establish a 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art food processing facility;
• create 48 job opportunities now and up to 85 more jobs within the next five years;
• install a state-of-the-art fruit and vegetable processing line with slicing and dicing capacity;
• install an energy-efficient freeze-drying line to enable the freeze-dried product to be offered for sale to a wider market;
• process over eight million pounds of raw fruit and vegetables in frozen form in the first year;
• provide opportunity for local producers to increase production;
• market local Ontario products throughout the province, Canada and internationally; and
• invest in Norfolk County to assist the area in moving away from tobacco production.
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