Greenhouse Competitions Celebrate 10 Years Of Supporting Needy Children in Uganda with additional awards.

On June 16-18, 2017 at the Leamington Fair, R.E.A.CH. International hosted its 10th annual Greenhouse Competitions including “The Hottest Tomato”,  “The Perfect Pepper” and “The Coolest Cucumber” Competitions. Greenhouse Industry growers and marketers entered their premium produce into the competitions which celebrate Essex County as being the largest greenhouse industry in North America.

You wouldn’t naturally associate greenhouses with international child sponsorships but that’s exactly what’s happened.  R.E.A.CH. International, the Canadian registered child-sponsorship charity, run completely by local volunteers, has been hosting an annual event that both celebrates our local Greenhouse Fame while sponsoring some of the poorest children and families in the world.  

Special thanks to Red Sun Farms for their Farm level sponsorship of the event. The net proceeds from this event will be used for R.E.A.CH.’s main project in Uganda, Africa. The proceeds from the competition raises enough money to sponsor over 50 children in Uganda, Africa annually.  The sponsorships give the children food, school supplies, medicine and everything else they need to get an education and break the cycle of poverty.

These unique competitions, presented in part by Red Sun Farms, happen in two stages.  First, on Friday evening, expert judges from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), grocery store produce managers, Culinary Guild of Windsor Chefs, and many others, judge entries with a specialized list of criteria. Second, throughout Friday and Saturday, the public voted for their favourite Tomato, Pepper and Cucumber for the “People’s Choice” awards. The “Kids’ Choice” awards will have our eager younger audience vote for their favourite Tomato, Pepper and Cucumber as well.

The Awards Ceremony, held on Saturday evening, awarded beautiful crystal trophies and bragging rights to all the best producers in North America. 

Special 10th Anniversary Awards:

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Competitions, REACH also handed out some plaques of appreciation.  

Loyalty Awards were given to Mucci Farms, St. Clair College, Mastronardi Produce, Westmoreland/Topline Farms and Pure Hothouse Foods for supporting the competition every year for the last ten years. A clean water source will be built in Uganda in the upcoming year displaying their names.

Shalin Khosla was presented with an Appreciation Award for his work as the Head Judge of the competition. As a Greenhouse Specialist at the Ontario Ministry Of Agriculture, Food And Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), Shalin was the one that came up with the criteria for the competitions’ judging and has sacrificed his time every year since 2007.

Mastronardi Produce was presented with an award for the Most Awarded Contestant of the Greenhouse Competitions.  With 56 awards from 2007 to 2016, Mastronardi Produce has won 33% of all the awards in the last 10 years.

And the 2016 Winners in the Greenhouse Capital of North America are:

Coolest Cucumber Competition:

English Cucumbers

• 1st place: Double Diamond – English Cucumber
• 2nd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.- English Cucumber
• 3rd place: Nature Fresh Farms-English Cucumber

Mini Cucumbers

• 1st place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.-Gourmet Baby Mini Cukes
• 2nd place: Red Sun Farms-Mini Cucumbers
• 3rd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.-Mini Cucumbers

Cocktail Cucumbers

• 1st place: Westmoreland / Topline Produce Cocktail Cuke
• 2nd place: Lakeside Produce- Cocktail Mini Cukes
• 3rd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.-Poco Bites

Kids’ Choice Cucumber: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. – Mini Seedless Cucumber
People’s Choice Cucumber: Amco Produce Inc. – English Cucumber
Overall Best Cucumber: Westmoreland / Topline Produce – Cocktail Cucumber

Hottest Tomato Competition

Beefsteak

• 1st place: Nature Fresh Farms – Ontario Red Beef 2
• 2nd place: Mucci Farms  –  Beefsteak Tomato
• 3rd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.  –  Beefsteak Tomato

Cluster / T.O.V.

• 1st place: Mucci Farms  –  Prova Mini Clusters
• 2nd place: Amco Produce Inc.  –  Tomatoes on the Vine
• 3rd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.  –  Tomatoes on the Vine

Roma

• 1st place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.  –   Roma Tomato
• 2nd place: Nature Fresh Farms  –  Roma Tomato
• 3rd place: Mucci Farms  –  Roma Tomato

Cocktail

• 1st place: Nature Fresh Farms  –  TOMZ – Cocktail 1
• 2nd place: Nature Fresh Farms  –  TOMZ – Cocktail 3
• 3rd place: Mucci Farms  –  Sapori On The Vine

Specialty

• 1st place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.  –  Mini Kumato
• 2nd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. –  Purple Strawberry
• 3rd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. –  Yellow Sprinkles

Bite Size

• 1st place: Nature Fresh Farms  –  TOMZ – Cherry 1
• 2nd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc. –  Oriana
• 3rd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. –  Bite Size Tomatoes

Kids’ Choice Tomato: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. – Bite Sized Tomatoes
People’s Choice Tomato: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. – Bite Sized Tomatoes
Overall Best Tomato: Nature Fresh Farms  – TOMZ – Cherry 1

Perfect Pepper Competition

Red Bell

• 1st place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.  –   Red Bell Pepper
• 2nd place: Nature Fresh Farms  –  Red Bell Pepper
• 3rd place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Red Bell

Yellow Bell

• 1st place: Nature Fresh Farms  –   Yellow Bell Pepper
• 2nd place: Del Fresco Produce – Yellow Bell Pepper
• 3rd place: Nature Fresh Farms  – Yellow Bell Pepper

Orange Bell

• 1st place: Del Fresco Produce  –   Orange Bell Pepper
• 2nd place: Red Sun Farms  –  Orange Bell Pepper
• 3rd place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Orange Bell

Specialty Mini

• 1st place: Del Fresco Produce  –  Orange Mini Pepper
• 2nd place: Red Sun Farms  –  Mini Pepper
• 3rd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd. –  Mixed Mini Sweet

Specialty Bell

• 1st place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.  –  Brown Peppers
• 2nd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.  –  Aloha Peppers
• 3rd place: Mucci Farms

Specialty Long

• 1st place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Super Sweet Shepherd
• 2nd place: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc.  –  Aurora Sweets Yellow
• 3rd place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Sweet Chef Sampler

Specialty Hot

• 1st place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Spice Night
• 2nd place: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Spicy Chef Sampler
• 3rd place: Mastronardi Produce Ltd.  –  Ancient Hots

Kids’ Choice Pepper: Double Diamond  –  Orange Shepherd
People’s Choice Pepper: Orangeline Farms  –  Zing! Sweet Chef Sampler
Overall Best Pepper: Del Fresco Produce  –  Orange Mini Pepper

R.E.A.CH. is a small charity run entirely by local volunteers. This small but mighty group has raised several thousands of dollars to build schools & clinics, create clean water sources, and sponsor and care for impoverished children in Uganda, Africa. Their unique program guarantees that 100% of child-sponsorship dollars goes to help the children. Separate fundraisers, such as this one, raise money for operating expenses. Since we’re all volunteers, our expenses are very low. Whatever we raise beyond those expenses also goes to our humanitarian projects.