Pure Flavor

Known worldwide for peaches and pecans, Peach County can now add Georgia grown Tomatoes and Cucumbers to its impressive list of home-grown favorites. Located in the heart of Peach County, Pure Flavor® broke ground in September 2017 on a state-of-the-art, high-tech 75-acre greenhouse complex to grow tomatoes and cucumbers year-round ... consistent quality and flavor, right in our backyard ... another locally-grown brand we can call our own.

The project is being built in on a 130-acre site in Fort Valley in three phases of 25 acres each, and is expected to create more than 200 jobs over five years. The Canada-based company is investing $105 million in the project. In addition to the greenhouses the sprawling complex includes a packing house and a 75,000 square foot distribution center just three miles from I-75. When completed, the facility will be the largest of its type in the Southeastern United States.

Using the latest technology in agriculture, Pure Flavor® will produce millions of pounds of Georgia grown vegetables to ship throughout Georgia to as far north as Virginia, west to Texas and south to Miami and everywhere in between. The first phase of greenhouses is expected to be completed by late summer 2018 and the first vegetables should be ready to pick by the end of the year. The greenhouses are expected to need 25-75 workers for that first phase. The second phase would begin in 2019.

Although the company has long-term contracts with a number of growers and more than 650 acres of greenhouses it manages, the Peach County facility will be Pure Flavor’s first company-owned greenhouse outside its Leamington, Ontario, Canada, headquarters.

Pure Flavor chose the Peach County location for its three-million square foot facility for several reasons including being close to I-75 and having an electric transmission line running through the property where they could build a substation. The company will use water from agriculture wells, which is another reason it picked this area. The operation will use a fraction of the water used to produce the same products as row crops, because all the water is self-contained and recycled.

Chris Veillon, chief marketing officer for Pure Hothouse Foods, Inc., owners of the Fort Valley facility, said, "Investing in Georgia will not only create new opportunities for jobs and regional economic development, but provide fresh greenhouse grown vegetables to millions of people across the USA. We will be Georgia Grown partners and want to tell everyone about it, one customer at a time."

BJ Walker, executive director of the Development Authority of Peach County, commented, "Having Pure Flavor invest in Peach County is proof positive that our community is attractive to newcomers and major international companies. It is confirmation that we possess all of the necessary qualities and assets that are ideal for a business to succeed and grow and we are thrilled and excited to welcome Pure Flavor into the Peach County family!"

Pure Hot House, owner of the Fort Valley facility, grows beefsteak tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine, sweet bell peppers, seedless cucumbers and baby eggplants in Leamington, as well as in growing locations in British Columbia and Mexico. Distribution centers in Ontario, Taylor, Mich., and Texas means product can be shipped to most major markets within 24 hours so customers receive superior looking product that arrives at the peak of freshness. The Fort Valley facility will add to that reach.

Pure Hothouse growers use one of two hydroponic systems: liquid or aggregate, according to the company’s website. Liquid systems have no supporting medium for the plant roots, whereas aggregate uses a solid medium for roots. The systems can also be open, where nutrients are taken up by amendments to the soil through the root structure, or closed, where surplus solution is recovered and recycled. The growing operations at Pure Hot House Farms use glass greenhouses and plastic cover, which provide temperature control, reduce water loss from evaporation and reduce disease and pest infestations, according to the company.

In addition to year-round production and protection from inclement weather, hydroponic greenhouse production offers other benefits: It allows growers to use water and fertilizers more efficiently; more product can be grown in a smaller area; better disease and pest control and improved soil management.