The new Golden Fresh Farm greenhouse is growing, and that means big economic opportunities for Auglaize County. The Canadian-based company Red Sun Farms says that the greenhouse is coming along thanks to local companies pitching in and helping out with the construction.
"Progress is going very well," said Paul Mastronardi, a co-owner of Golden Fresh Farms. "We're extremely happy with all of the connections we've made with electricians down here and all of the utility companies - it's going a lot better than expected."
The greenhouse will also provide jobs for the area - the first phase will have 82 new jobs. If the greenhouse is eventually built out to the full 200 acres, there will be 400 new employees with a 15 million dollar payroll. Â Welcoming in the new company also gives Wapakoneta a chance to show other companies that investing in the area is a good idea.
"It's definitely helpful when you can point to a project where a company has chosen your site and can give you a list of reasons why," said Greg Myers, Executive Director of the Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council. "Up until now, our site has been more hypothetical; you can tell people why they should be here, but now we can actually point to Golden Fresh Farms and say, 'they made a very valued, wise decision to select West Central Ohio for their location, for a variety of reasons.'"
And those reasons are all something that Wapakoneta can give back to Golden Fresh Farms.
"We're looking for a big local movement - it isn't just a fad, it's what the consumer is looking for nowadays," Mastronardi said. "Logistically, we couldn't ask for a better location, we're within a 100 million people within an eight hour radius."
Planting in the greenhouse is expected to begin in January.
