“The next day, it’s in your supermarket,” Chibante said.

He said a typical farm field can produce nine pounds of tomatoes per square meter, but by using the greenhouse method, they can produce 154 pounds per square meter.Īnother advantage, the owners said, is that they harvest everyday. In addition to greater sustainability and a reduced environmental footprint, Mastronardi said they can also produce higher yields. No, we’re just making the environment perfect, and by doing that, the plant is producing perfectly everyday.” “People think in a greenhouse it’s pumped with this or that. “Once you know how we do it and how well we do it, not only for the green part of it but for the taste and pesticides and everything else, everybody will be happy,” Chibante said. With its greenhouse technology, the company is able to control its growing environment, achieve sustainability for the future, integrate pest management programs to eliminate the use of pesticides, recycle water to reduce its environmental footprint, and grow all non-GMO varieties.Ĭhibante said he hopes to break the stereotype that vegetables grown in greenhouses are “unnatural.” Now we will be home to one of the largest, most modern, fully sustainable growers of vegetables in the nation.” “Wapakoneta is known for many good things. “We are very pleased and excited that Golden Fresh Farms has selected our community for this project,” said Wapakoneta Mayor Tim Stinebaugh.

Phase one will also add 52 new full-time jobs with an annual payroll of $1.9 million. If all goes well, they will likely expand to 200 acres of greenhouses, with a $250 million investment over eight phases.Ĭonstruction on phase one will begin this spring, and they hope to have the greenhouse up and running by December.

Paul Mastronardi and Louie Chibante, principal owners of Golden Fresh Farms, announced they will invest a total of $100 million over the first four phases of the project. The groundbreaking represents just one phase of the project, which will expand over the next several years. Golden Fresh Farms, a Canadian-based company, broke ground on a $22.5 million, 20-acre greenhouse Wednesday morning in the West Central Ohio Industrial Center, located in Wapakoneta near Interstate 75 and U.S. WAPAKONETA - Acres of untapped land at Wapakoneta’s Job Ready Site will soon be home to a high-tech greenhouse that will produce locally grown vegetables throughout the winter months.

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