Celebrating Farmer Innovations in the Greenbelt!
The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is proud to congratulate Phil Short of Vortex Packaging who won the ‘Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation’ and Victory Organic Inc. who won a ‘Leaders in Innovation Award’. Both awards were handed out at the Ontario Legislature as part of the Ontario Premier’s Annual Agri-Food Summit.
Short is a fruit grower, shipper and entrepreneur from Vineland Station whose company, Vortex Packaging created a recyclable and stackable fruit basket. Victory Organic Inc. is a St. Catharines company that created the "Bob Wash,” an efficient cleaning system for produce that can be affordable for small-scale processors.
The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation are committed to supporting local food and the farmers that grow it. Over the past seven years, the Foundation has awarded close to $17 million in grants. Almost $12 million of that money has gone to agricultural projects – that’s 40 per cent of all funding given for since the Foundation was established! To put that number in perspective, if we are talking in “apples”, you could buy 17 thousand iPhone 5’s for $12 million – that’s a lot of “apple”. With no plans to slow down our support for local food, today we are proud to announce new funding that will bring new products to people at farmers’ markets.
The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation would also like to congratulate all of the Regional Award Winners:
Andrews Scenic Acres, Halton Hills
Moyer’s Candy Apples, Vineland
Wine Council of Ontario, Vineland
PR Short & Son, Vineland Station
Pillitteri Estates Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Vineland & The Stop Community Food Centre
Victory Organics Inc., St. Catharines
Southbrook Vineyards, Niagara-on-the-Lake
Pioneer Flower Farms Limited, St. Catharines
Prins Grow Inc, Jordan Station
Puddicombe Cider Company, Stoney Creek
Ontario Popping Corn Company, Walsingham
Creemore 100 Mile Store, Creemore
