Lock City Dairies gets $175K boost from province to expand operations

TORONTO – The Ontario government is providing more than $4 million through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) to nine agri-food projects in the north, including one in Sault Ste. Marie and others in the Algoma district.

The investment is designed to boost local food production, create jobs and stimulate expansion and diversification in the northern agri-food sector, the province says.

Lock City Dairies Inc. is receiving $174,684 to expand its facility in the Sault to "increase productivity, efficiency and storage capacity, and generate more sales and clients," according to an announcement made today at the 101st Royal Agricultural Winter Fair by Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development. 

“Through targeted investments like the ones we are celebrating today, our government continues to strengthen the Northern agri-food industry that keeps our communities thriving,” Rickford said in a news release.

“Lock City Dairies has been a part of our community for 31 years," Vic Fremlin, owner and founder of Lock City Dairies, said in the release. "Since the beginning, we have believed in investing back into the community that invests in us.

"NOHFC has accelerated the growth of our company so that we are able to not only continue our efforts in making our city stronger but to double down. We appreciate NOHFC for believing in us and making it possible for us to grow at the rate we have over the last two years.” 

Other local businesses are also receiving the following funding amounts:

• $461,000 for Tulloch Agriculture Inc. to build two storage buildings and purchase equipment to expand operations to include cash cropping in Algoma–Manitoulin 
• $400,000 for Sharpe Farm Supplies Ltd. and WM Sharpe Farms Ltd. to invest in a new 14,000-square-foot warehouse that will have an agri-centre and new grain dryers and grain bins to support crop storage services in Algoma–Manitoulin 
• $67,967 for Pleasant Valley – an agricultural tourism start-up on Manitoulin Island – to build a safe and positive environment to provide education and connect people with animals and agriculture 
• $56,520 for Old Rock Inc. – a specialty coffee roastery based in Sudbury – to purchase and install a new coffee roaster to respond to consumer demand and invest in building retrofits to accommodate the roaster and marketing costs 
• $1,400,000 for Lactalis Canada Inc. to convert their Sudbury milk facility into a premium non-dairy, plant-based facility 
• $945,506 for the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance to administer a tile drainage project in the Timiskaming–Cochrane District, spanning 1,888 acres and supporting 19 producers 
• $535,800 for the Northeast Community Network to administer a tile drainage project in the Timiskaming–Cochrane District, spanning 893 acres and supporting nine producers 
• $81,000 for Peace Hill Farm in Sundridge to install a greenhouse and purchase equipment to establish commercial organic farming operations 

Since June 2018, the NOHFC has invested more than $717 million in 5,875 projects in Northern Ontario, leveraging more than $2.3 billion in investment and creating or sustaining over 9,260 jobs, according to the release.