Nature Fresh Farms Partners with Hiram Walker

Nature Fresh Farms recently teamed up with Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, a leading whisky producer, which is now providing the greenhouse operation with a renewable fuel source in the form of whisky cull barrels.

The partnership started in 2018 after Hiram Walker & Sons reached out to Nature Fresh Farms to help reduce their surplus of whisky cull barrels. To date, the whisky producer has provided the farm with more than 25,000 barrels as fuel for their biomass boiler. The success of the arrangement has expanded the program. So, in addition to the barrels, Hiram Walker has sent other scrap wood material including used bungs, wood shavings and damaged pallets.

“The partnership between Hiram Walker and Nature Fresh Farms can best be described as a win-win situation for bother companies,” said Darren Taylor, Customer Service & Planning, Bulk Operations at Hiram Walker & Sons Limited. “Hiram Walker has an environmentally friendly way to dispose of barrels and Nature Fresh farms receives a good supply of clean-burning oak wood.”

The companies will continue working together to recycle wood and the metal whisky barrel rings, this reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. This partnership allows both companies to maintain their values of sustainability while finding new opportunities to integrate eco-friendly alternatives within their operations.

“We are an industry that has the capacity to produce significant positive change,” said Dave Froese, Energy Manager at Nature Fresh Farms. “Teaming up with Hiram Walker gives us the opportunity to continue to make a difference by reducing the amount of materials that end up in landfills.”

Using biomass boilers to create greener energy is just one part of the overall energy strategy at Nature Fresh Farms. Nature Fresh Farms has prioritized sustainability to make impactful efforts, and that commitment has only strengthened. Marked by its 20 years of growth, Nature Fresh Farms has continued to innovate and introduce more viable and sustainable growing and packaging solutions.