Innovations at five farm businesses in Chatham-Kent and Essex are the recipients of agri-food innovation awards from the province for developing more efficient and faster processes.
Among them, Truly Green Farms, a greenhouse operation that is using carbon dioxide and plans to use heat from the Chatham ethanol plant, and Dennis Driedger of A Driedger Farms near Wheatley developed a system to speed harvest of field tomatoes while reducing crop damage.
"It's harvested directly," he says. "It's keeps our quality levels up to whole pack versus paste which is squished or chopped."
Other winners developed a device for mechanical filling of plant pots, and a hydroponic strawberry system that will allow production year round.
