ACCAvenir
208, rue Pitt
Cornwall, Ontario K6J 3P6
Annual lettuce imports are worth more than half a billion dollars in Canada and the vast majority of that comes from the United States. A safe and consistent supply, however, is hard to secure when there are climate events like droughts and forest fires, or other things out of Canada’s control like labour practices and safety standards, resulting in more frequent product recalls and related illnesses.
Enter Fieldless Farms, a Cornwall, Ontario company that grows fresh greens hydroponically year-round through controlled-environemnt agriculture (CEA)—and sells them at a competitive price.
Fieldless Farms came to ACCFutures even before officially opening its operations. We introduced them to our local municipality, brought their attention to government programs, and presented them to the business community. Lomow says he didn’t expect some of these services—all were a happy surprise.
Beyond these services, ACCFutures provided an Equity Investment of $100,000 through the Community Futures Investment Fund to grow the business. And when the company was faced with rapid growth and a need for more employees, we introduced them to Performance Plus Rehabilitative Care (PPRC), an organization that helps differently abled individuals find work. Now, a quarter of their 20-person workforce is made up of people living with disabilities.
Fiedless Farms continues to work on significantly scaling its operations and Lomow says he hopes ACCFutures will continue to be part of the company’s future.