Greenhouse Canada

News
Leadership is key with Top 10 Under 40

October 9, 2015  By Dave Harrison


Oct. 9, 2015, Niagara Falls, Ont. — It was another banner year for the calibre of Top 10 Under 40 award nominations. And that’s great news for the future of the industry.

The Greenhouse Canada Top 10 Under 40 is sponsored by Paul Boers Manufacturing and Prins Greenhouses. The winners were announced during The Gathering reception of the Canadian Greenhouse Conference earlier this week.
 

A full report on the award winners will be featured in our November edition.

Eric Doef is the grower/manager of Doef’s Greenhouses of Lacombe, Alberta. This family operation is well known for its production of high quality vegetables, success at diversification, and pioneering use of supplemental lights for winter production of cucumbers and tomatoes.

Advertisement

Christopher Gill is the director of greenhouse operations with Mastronardi Produce, based in Kingsville, Ont. He took on much of the responsibility of developing the company’s massive 100-acre greenhouse project in Coldwater, Michigan.

Aron Hoff is the production manager at Meyers Flowers in Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario. He has accepted more and more responsibility and now coordinates all aspects of production. He enjoys working on a number of industry committees, including work with Flowers Canada Ontario and the speaker committee of the Canadian Greenhouse Conference.

Miles Hunter was born with two green thumbs – he is a third-generation garden centre owner and fourth-generation horticulturist. He is the general manager of David Hunter Garden Centers of British Columbia. Hunter has long been involved with the B.C. Landscape Nursery Association and the Canadian Nursery Association.

Cara McCreary is the new greenhouse vegetable IPM specialist with OMAFRA, starting her new role with the ministry in January 2015. 
She works out of the AAFC Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre in Harrow. Pest management has been her focus and passion through both her work experience and education.

Dan Newhouse, a Niagara College graduate, worked for a couple years at a large greenhouse farm in Niagara. He soon decided the family should get out of onion growing and into greenhouse production. In 16 years, the company has grown steadily under his direction into a 200,000-square-foot potted plant operation.

Yves Roy completed his M.Sc. (2015) and B.Sc. (2012) degrees in bioresource engineering at McGill University. He is currently working as a project engineer at Consultants Lemay & Choinière. He has filed a patent on an exhaust gas purification system for wood pellet heating, something that would allow growers to recover CO2 from biomass systems.

Thomas Sawaya is an assistant grower with George Sant & Sons Greenhouses in Kleinburg, Ont. He has thoroughly impressed managers there with his work with young plants in particular. He has also been successful in recent years with his work in helping manage the Sawaya Garden Trials and its 2,200 cultivars.

Jeremy van Koeveringe is the head grower at Spring Valley Gardens in St. Catharines, Ont. His is a life-long passion for plants. “Since his first day on the job, he has continually shown great interest in not just growing plants, but in finding the best way possible to grow the best product,” said consultant Melhem Sawaya of Focus Greenhouse Management.

In 2010, Greg Yuristy went back to the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph to complete a masters degree. He quickly demonstrated an affinity for all things green roof related. He finished his masters and subsequent research associate work with two patents under his belt. Yuristy has founded a full-service green roofing company through partnership with Ontario engineering firm Tulloch Engineering and the University of Guelph.

The Top 10 Under 40 is sponsored by:
paul b


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below


Related