At Gwillimdale Farms, we love welcoming visitors for educational tours, but today, we’re bringing the farm to you! Think of this blog as your virtual farm tour: a chance to stroll through our fields, peek inside our packing plant, and discover the care, innovation, and tradition that go into every crop. Whether you’re curious about modern farming, where your food comes from, or simply want a behind-the-scenes look at life on a family farm in Ontario, this tour is for you. So, grab your boots (virtually!) and let’s get started.
Welcome to Gwillimdale Farms
Welcome to Gwillimdale Farms! We’re a family-owned farm with a rich history rooted in Ontario agriculture. Since the early 1900s, the Hambly family has worked this land with care and dedication. Today, under John and Cristina Hambly’s leadership, alongside their children, we proudly represent the 4th and 5th generations of farming excellence.
What started as a small dairy farm has grown into Ontario’s largest grower, packer, and shipper of fresh root vegetables. Since planting our first crops in 1995, we’ve expanded to over 2,000 acres in Bradford, Ontario, cultivating carrots, onions, potatoes, beets, and parsnips in the region’s fertile soil.
At Gwillimdale Farms, quality is at the heart of everything we do. We manage every step of the process, from planting seeds to delivering fresh produce to your local grocery store. By growing, harvesting, washing, packing, and shipping all under one roof, we ensure that only the freshest, highest-quality vegetables make it to your table.
We’re proud to be CanadaGAP-certified, which means we follow the highest food safety and sustainability standards at every stage. From field to fork, every vegetable is grown with care, inspected for quality, and handled with the respect it deserves.
Stop 1: The Storage Facility – Behind the Scenes of Crop Care
Every root vegetable’s journey begins long before it reaches your kitchen. After harvesting, we store our crops in state-of-the-art storage facilities until it’s time for packing. Potatoes are gathered in the cool mornings, onions in the drier afternoons. Once they arrive, trucks unload onto conveyors that move the produce into hoppers for grading.
Each vegetable is sorted and placed into wooden storage boxes sourced from Poland, a unique antibacterial wood that keeps produce fresh longer. With our efficient system, a box can be filled in just two minutes, that’s about 60 boxes per hour!
Inside the storage rooms, advanced cooling systems imported from France use negative pressure ventilation to draw cool air evenly through every box. Ensuring perfect airflow and preventing moisture buildup. These systems run around the clock, and if the temperature changes, we’re alerted immediately so we can act fast to protect quality.
From harvest to storage to packing, every step is designed to keep your produce fresh and flavourful until it reaches your kitchen.
Stop 2: The Potato Field – From Soil to Supper
We farm across 2,000 acres in Bradford and the surrounding area, growing a variety of root vegetables with care from seed to harvest. Potatoes, one of the most beloved staples in kitchens everywhere, are a highlight of our crops. We grow multiple varieties, perfect for mashing, roasting, or baking. This particular field is home to Sifra potatoes, one of our most popular white varieties, valued for their flavour and versatility.
Our root vegetables are field-grown in rich, fertile soil under natural conditions, locking in both freshness and flavour. We believe healthy soil grows healthy crops. That’s why we focus on soil health, replenishing the soil with cover crops that nurture the earth’s natural resources, resulting in strong, nutritious root vegetables year after year.
At Gwillimdale Farms, we honour our traditions while embracing new technologies. This year, we took a major step forward by integrating an AI sprayer. Rooted in growth, we put care into every step because great food starts from the ground up. Our commitment to quality, sustainability, and freshness means you can enjoy the purest flavours, grown with love and care.
Stop 3: The Packing Plant – Freshness in Every Bag
Our packing facility runs three lines daily: one for potatoes, one for onions, and one for carrots, beets, and parsnips. We package everything from small 1 lb bags to full truckloads for delivery.
In 2022, we upgraded our potato line by integrating fully automated grading with advanced camera systems powered by Artificial Intelligence, which learns and improves over time for even greater precision. We also installed a brand-new WYMA carrot line, featuring equipment like cyclone destoners, and hedgehogs to remove tops and debris, and elevation tables to shake off dirt, all helping us increase capacity and improve sanitation.
Washed produce passes through our eco-friendly ozone cleaning system, which is a natural alternative to chemical washes, before heading to our coolers and then our shipping warehouse. Our water recycling system reduces daily water consumption by over 60%, reflecting our ongoing commitment to sustainability.
We carefully inspect all our vegetables to ensure they meet the high standards set by the Government, checking for quality, shape, colour, and freshness.
Thank You
Thank you for joining us on this virtual farm tour! We hope you enjoyed exploring the fields, storage facilities, and packing plant that bring fresh Ontario vegetables to your table. Every step of our process reflects our commitment to quality, sustainability, and feeding families across Canada. Stay connected with us for more stories, updates, and seasonal highlights from the farm.
Browse our website and discover why Gwillimdale Farms is proud to grow for Ontario families, including yours.