NatureFresh adds cucumber volume

For the past few years, NatureFresh Farms Sales has been selling long English cucumbers and mini cucumbers grown and packed by Leamington, Ontario, grower Vine Fresh Acres.

Vine Fresh Acres recently finished a 17-acre expansion, giving NatureFresh Farms Sales a total of 34 acres of long English and mini cucumbers to market, according to a news release.

The added cucumber volume comes as NatureFresh has experienced rapid growth over the past five years, and the company sees growth potential for the category in the U.S., according to the release.

“While some of our retailers are reporting year-over-year growth of 25% to 45% in this category, others have still not fully tapped into this growing market,” Matt Quiring, executive retail sales account manager, said in the release. “When merchandized properly, retailers can see massive sales potential with long English cucumbers — it is a matter of getting the product out of the back corners of the wet racks and merchandizing them in large bulk displays on the floor.”

Vine Fresh Acres’ new acreage will give NatureFresh the ability to meet growing demand and offer year-round availability for Ontario-grown cucumbers, according to the release.

The expansion includes packing line automation technology such as automatic dumpers and robot case stackers.