NatureFresh Farms & Eminent Seeds NL introduce the world's smallest tomato

Leamington, ON – At this past PMA Fresh Summit in New Orleans, NatureFresh Farms and Eminent Seeds NL reached a proprietary agreement within North America. NatureFresh Farms will exclusively grow and market Tomberry tomatoes in Canada, United States and Mexico, according to a press release. Jan van Heijningen, director at Eminent Group, and John Ketler, farm manager at NatureFresh Farms, finalized the agreement during the trade show.

In spring of 2018 NatureFresh Farms will begin growing and commercially marketing this exciting new variety of tomato from its Leamington, Ontario greenhouse. Plans are to expand the production of the Tomberry tomato over the next few years, as the category grows to meet consumer demands for snacking tomatoes.

This past year, NatureFresh Farms' trial and development team has worked with Eminent NL Seeds to explore new tomato varieties that would fit the growing trend in the snacking category. Not only does the Tomberry deliver in flavor, it brings a new look and ingredient to the culinary world of food service, according to the release. These attractive berries are very versatile in the use of salads, hot dishes and are visually appealing, NatureFresh Farms says. “The World’s Smallest Tomato,” The Tomberry tomato, is about 0.5 to 1 centimeter in diameter with an average fruit weight of 1 to 2 grams, perfect for snacking, according to the release.

“The Tomberry is unique in size and has caught the interest of our retail partners” explained Matt Quiring, executive retail sales manager. “The snacking trend in North America has exploded and we continue to search for new items that will help grow our snacking category. This pearl sized fruit’s unique size is something hard to miss and even more difficult to pass by without picking up. Once a consumer tries them, we are confident that they will be coming back for more. Visually, it is candy to the eyes. From a sensory standpoint, we can back that up.”

“We are pleased to partner with Eminent NL” said Peter Quiring, president and owner of NatureFresh Farms. “This is a perfect fit to complement our TOMZ snacking category and our brand strategy. We want to grow and market the best-tasting tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, and we are excited to offer this for the first time from our Leamington, Ontario greenhouse starting next spring. Our research team works hard at identifying these new varieties that taste exceptional, and we look forward to the new opportunities they provide for future consumers.”

Over the next few months, NatureFresh Farms will be developing packaging and branding for a launch scheduled in spring 2018. For more information about this new tomato, contact NatureFresh Farms Sales at 519-326-1111