Village Farms Harvests First Fruit from New Greenhouse

Village Farms International, Inc. has harvested the first fruit from its new state-of-the-art greenhouse located in Monahans, Texas, yesterday. The initial pick is being harvested a few weeks ahead of schedule due to the excellent greenhouse climate. The company broke ground on 30 acres (Phase I) in June 2011, planting the initial 15 acres in mid-December 2011 and the remaining in early January (15 acres). The Monahans greenhouse is the fifth greenhouse built by the company in Texas, and is the first commercial size greenhouse based on the company’s innovative proprietary technology, Greenhouse Advanced Technology Environment System, (GATESTM). Phase I incorporates a 30 acre production greenhouse in addition to various other service buildings including an advanced technology packing, sorting and distribution facility. The long term plan is to build a total of 120 acres, on the 320 acre site. “Harvesting our first crop in our state of the art facility is an exciting event for the company considering the very aggressive timeline we committed to in building this facility,” says Michael DeGiglio, CEO. "The Monahans greenhouse is truly like no other greenhouse in the world and is already demonstrating its ability to grow high quality fruit in a stable and consistently monitored growing climate, even when the conditions outside the greenhouse are less than ideal. I am proud of this significant event not only for the Company but for all the hard work and dedication it took on the part of our employees and vendors to bring the Monahans greenhouse into the production phase.”