NatureFresh Farmsbased in Leamington, ON, Canada, has broken ground on a new 106,000 sq.ft distribution center that is to be completed by mid summer. This new facility will allow the firm to increase production and packaging onsite. NatureFresh also recently launched new USDA Certified Organic Tomatoes on the Vine and Red Grape Tomatoes.

According to a report in theWisconsin State Journal, state officials from Wisconsin and New York are requesting assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after Grassland Dairy Products Inc. based in Greenwood, WI sent a letter to several dozen state dairy farmers notifying them that they can no longer purchase their milk as of May 1. This is the result of a new Canadian classification system for ultra-filtered milk that would cause the firm to lose the Canadian market. With American dairy already experiencing a surplus, this leaves even more dairy left unpurchased adding up to a huge loss for dairy farmers that could potentially drive family farms out of business if someone else is unable to purchase their milk. State officials in Wisconsin and New York are asking USDA to purchase surplus cheese and butter currently in storage for distribution in its nutritional aid programs, including food banks and the school lunch program. Dairy Farmers of Canada maintains that the new classification is designed to keep Canadian farmers competitive in the market and cites rampant overproduction of U.S. dairy despite the lack of demand for the struggling U.S. dairy industry.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine May 2017