Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON – Vineland Growers’ Co-Operative Ltd. has an enviable problem:  estimating growth. As Dave Lepp, director of operations, recalls, “Back in 2010, the board of directors gave a five-year projection, but when I checked the actual volumes arriving at our doors, their production numbers were much higher than what was projected.”  
    

As the major distributor and marketer of Ontario’s tender fruits, the Vineland Growers’ Co-Operative needed to consolidate dry storage and cold storage space. They were renting three facilities to accommodate the need for large volumes of plastic containers and corrugated boxes. In some cases, these packaging and netting materials were arriving in April and May, well ahead of the harvest season to ensure readiness.  
  

“We can’t depend on just-in-time delivery from ports as far away as Italy, Spain, China and the U.S.,” says Lepp. “We make a lot of containers for our growers from our inventory.” So plans were set to build a 30,000-square foot facility in Niagara-on-the-Lake, doubling the size of the current operation. Design plans in 2015 have now been executed for the 2016 harvest. Box-making, basket-making, labeling and printing have been consolidated to the Virgil site in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In addition, four separate controlled-atmosphere rooms can now accommodate the Cold Snap pear crop.  
    

“After harvest, Cold Snap pears need to be put to sleep until they’re required and packed between January and March,” says Lepp.
    

From a food safety perspective, the new construction offered opportunity to create a clean and neat work flow. No wood or rough edges are to be seen. Pre-engineered, insulated panels are easy to clean. The production centre has more comfortable temperatures for employees working in the summer heat.  
    

Three box-making machines and four basket formers have been installed. One of the new machines will make 5 lb. trays for both peach and nectarines. 
    

One of the key features of the new facility is a pallet-flow racking system – “a first-in, first-out” system that ensures freshness. All produce goes in one side of the cold storage room and comes out the other side.  
    

“We won’t lose dated product in this system,” Lepp assures. 
    

The cold storage is designed to hold 700 pallets of product that can be stacked three levels high. Each lane holds 10 pallets. Because Vineland Growers’ Co-Operative ships 30 million pounds of fresh fruit per year, logistics like these become critical to fulfilling retailer orders.
    

Cold storage experts, Penn Refrigeration, were contracted to install modern cooling technology specifically for fruit.  All co-op members take the field heat out of their fruit at home farms before it’s shipped by refrigerated trucks to the central facility for shipping. “The fruit comes in cold and it’s our job to keep it cold,” says Lepp.
    

The entire facility has been constructed with insulated panels so that dry storage space can be divided with interior walls to make way for more cooling space when required. 
    

By far, the heaviest volume of fruit is in peaches, followed by nectarines, pears, plums, table grapes and some apricots and cherries. The new facility is literally just-in-time for peak season.