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Big wins at Greenhouse Competitions

June 18, 2018  By Greenhouse Canada


(l to r) Back row: Fernanda Albuquerque (Mucci Farms), Leona Neill and Costin Beliciu (Red Sun Farms), Graham Hamilton (Double Diamond), Middle Row: Corey Futko & Kiley Gray (Pure Flavor), Justine Chevalier & Melanie Mastronardi (Sunset Produce) Kneeling in the front: Matt Quiring (Nature Fresh) & Steve Stasko (Orangeline Produce)

A new competition for strawberries was introduced at the 11th annual Greenhouse Competitions this year, and it was a hit.

Held from June 15 to 17 at the Leamington Fair, this year’s Greenhouse Competitions included ‘The Hottest Tomato’, ‘The Perfect Pepper’, ‘The Coolest Cucumber’ and new this year – “ The Sweetest Strawberry’. Greenhouse growers entered their best produce into different categories within each competition, ensuring that entries were judged against similar products.

The event celebrates Essex County as the largest greenhouse industry in North America – but that’s not all. Hosted by R.E.A.C.H. International, net proceeds from registration entry fees go to the Canadian registered child-sponsorship charity and will be used for their main project in Uganda, Africa.

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The competitions were carried out in two stages. Entries were judged blind by representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), grocery store produce managers, Culinary Guild of Windsor Chefs and others using a pre-determined set of criteria that included acidity, fruit wateriness, blemishes, colour and more. Entries with the highest scores in each category were declared winners, in addition to overall winners in each competition.

Following official judging, the public was invited to vote for their favourites in the ‘People’s Choice’ awards. This year, over 1000 votes were garnered, with lots of excitement around the new strawberry category for the “Kids’s Choice” award.

The proceeds from the competition raises enough money to sponsor over 50 children in Uganda, Africa annually,” states R.E.A.C.H. International. “The sponsorships give the children food, school supplies, medicine and everything else they need to get an education and break the cycle of poverty.”

Entirely run by local volunteers, this group has raised thousands of dollars to build schools and clinics, create clean water sources, and sponsor and care for impoverished children in Uganda.

R.E.A.C.H. would like to acknowledge Red Sun Farms for their Farm-level sponsorship of the event, as well as financial support from Agrolux Horticultural Lighting, Nature Fresh Farms and UCB Canada.

Here were the winners of the 2018 competition:

Hottest Tomato Competition

Category

Place

Producer/Product

Beefsteak

1st

Pure Flavor Beefsteak

2nd

Nature Fresh Beefsteak

3rd

Sunset Slicer Beefsteak

Cluster

1st

Sunset Avalantino

2nd

Red Sun Farms Specialty TOV

3rd

Nature Fresh TOV #1

Roma

1st

Red Sun Farms Roma Tomato

2nd

Sunset Produce Roma

3rd

Pure Flavor Roma

Cocktail

1st

Sunset Produce Kumato

2nd

Nature Fresh Tomz Cocktail #3

3rd

Del Fresco Cocktail Tomato

Specialty

1st

Red Sun Farms Specialty Cherry Tomato

2nd

Sunset Orange Crunch

3rd

Nature Fresh Tomz Red Cherry

Bite Size

1st

Sunset Produce Flavor Bombs

2nd

Sunset Florantino

3rd

Sunset One Sweet Tomato

Overall Best: Sunset Produce Kumato Cocktail Tomato

People’s Choice: Nature Fresh TOMZ Tomberries

Kid’s Choice: Nature Fresh TOMZ Tomberries


Coolest Cucumber Competition

Category

Place

Producer/Product

English

1st

Mucci Farms English Cucumber

2nd

Sunset English Cukes

3rd

Nature Fresh Long English

Mini

1st

Red Sun Farms Mini Cucumber

2nd

Trison Mini Tribute Crunch

3rd

Mucci Farms Mini Cuke

Cocktail

1st

Pure Flavor Poco Bites

2nd

Sunset Produce One Sweet Cucumber

3rd

Double Diamond Cocktail Cukes

Overall Best: Pure Flavor Poco Bites

People’s Choice: Mucci Farms Cute-cumber Poppers

Kid’s Choice: Nature Fresh Nature Fresh Mini Cukes


Perfect Pepper Competition

Category

Place

Producer/Product

Red Bell Pepper

1st

Double Diamond Red Pepper

2nd

Del Fresco Red Pepper

3rd

Nature Fresh Red Bell

Yellow Bell Pepper

1st

Orangeline Zing! Yellow Pepper

2nd

Del Fresco

3rd

Trison Farms

Orange Bell Pepper

1st

Orangeline Zing! Orange Bell

2nd

Mucci Farms

3rd

Del Fresco

Specialty Mini Pepper

1st

Orangeline Zing! Lunchbox Orange

2nd

Topline Produce Mini Seedless

3rd

Nature Fresh Yellow Snack

Specialty Bell Pepper

1st

Sunset Produce Aloha

2nd

Orangeline Zing! Chocolate Bell

Specialty Long Pepper

1st

Mucci Farms Rustico

2nd

Orangeline Zing! Super Sweet Sheppard

3rd

Tie:

Sunset Sweet Twisters,

Pure Flavor Aurora Sweets

Specialty Hot Pepper

1st

Sunset Produce Ancient Hots

2nd

Del Fresco

3rd

Orangeline Zing! Peter Pepper

Overall Best: Sunset Produce Ancient Hots

People’s Choice: Orangeline Zing! Yellow Super Sweet Sheppard 

Kid’s Choice: Nature Fresh Yellow Bell


Sweetest Strawberry Competition

Overall Best: 

1st place: Mucci Farms Smuccies

2nd place: Sunset Produce Strawberry

3rd place: Del Fresco Yes Berries

People’s Choice: Mucci Farms Smuccies

Kid’s Choice: Mucci Farms Smuccies

 


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