Ontario, Canada
April 29, 2025
The Innovation Hub will provide early access to top-performing varieties and locally adapted solutions designed to support growers across the region.
Harmoniz Seeds is opening a new high-tech facility in Ontario, Canada, designed to deliver early access to exclusive tomato, pepper, and cucumber varieties to its North American customers. This strategic investment brings world-class breeding expertise closer than ever to the region’s top producers, offering not only solutions calibrated to real growing conditions, but also a new standard of excellence, reliability, and commercial value.
Set to officially open on May 14, 2025, the facility expands the company’s footprint in North America and complements its global Innovation Hub operations, which include high-tech sites in the Netherlands, Mexico, and Italy. It also reflects Harmoniz’s continued commitment to high-tech horticulture – ensuring a steady supply of top-tier, consistent, and delicious vegetables that consumers choose first and choose again.
Empowering growers with earlier access to localized solutions for faster, more reliable results
“The North American climate creates unique growing challenges – from extreme winters to hot, humid summers,” explained Stephan Vonk, Area Sales Manager for Canada and the USA. “By establishing a dedicated facility in Ontario, we’re positioned to develop varieties specifically adapted to these growing conditions.”
The new location serves both as a validation center for new material developed at Harmoniz’s Dutch key R&D Center and as a specialized Demo site customized for North American requirements. This enables the company to run concurrent trials with its European operations and to introduce to the market pre-commercial or semi-commercial varieties at a very early stage.
Supporting this new Innovation Hub, Harmoniz operates a specialized PVIS (Plant Virus Inoculation System) testing program at a separate Canadian location, evaluating ToBRFV-resistant varieties developed via the most advanced genomic and molecular techniques, tested against local strains of the virus throughout complete growing cycles.
This program connects to Harmoniz’s global PVIS network in Israel, Spain and Sicily, ensuring varieties targeting the North American market are truly suitable for the region’s growing conditions.
“When growers see the ToBRFV-resistant designation on a Harmoniz variety, they can be confident it’s, besides lab tested, backed by thorough testing under local conditions, and that will get the best combination of plant performance, high resistance, and fruit quality” added Vonk.
Fostering shared success with win-win partnerships in North America
The new Canadian facility plays a critical role in validating varieties tailored for North American conditions and is a cornerstone of Harmoniz’s ‘Select’ initiative. The “Select” approach, designed to create value at every stage of the supply chain, enables growers to achieve excellence by carefully selecting the right combinations of genetics and stakeholders along the chain — for growers seeking profitable reliability, retailers pursuing differentiation and durability on the shelf, and health-conscious consumers craving exceptional eating experiences.
By collaborating with partners who align with Harmoniz’s year-round approach, the company ensures reliable, sales-ready crops that meet market demand. “We are committed to providing growers with the varieties and support they need to succeed,” says Vonk, “delivering consistently high-performing, recognizable products that growers, retailers, and consumers will choose time and time again.”
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