Officials at H.J. Heinz Co. of Canada are boasting of "a big season" at their tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ont., despite cutting production there in August.

As of Wednesday, Heinz had processed more than 150,000 tonnes of tomatoes, about 70 per cent of the 195,005 tonnes it expects to process by October, according to Ed Fittler, Heinz Canada's facilities manager.

"The quality of the fruit is great, the farmers are right on schedule," Fittler said. "It's not the record season for us, but a very big season and something that we have to pay a lot of attention to, to do it right."

The tomato is such an important crop to Leamington, Ont., the self-declared 'tomato capital of Canada,' that it's celebrated at the town's annual tomato festival, where festival-goers compete to crush tomatoes with their feet. (Leamington Tomato Festival)

The plant typically employs about 700 people, but has hired about 300 more to help during the busy tomato processing season.

Higher prices

The U.S.-based ketchup maker cut its Canadian production by 30 per cent in August in light of higher tomato prices.

Prices rose after an arbitrator told Heinz in April it would have to pay growers 30 per cent more per tonne of tomato, or $122 per tonne, according to the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers.

Heinz Canada has operated in Leamington for 100 years.

At a centennial celebration Tuesday, Heinz Canada president Peter Luik said the Leamington plant has "a lot of unique strengths" that give the company "a bright future."

"Manufacturing in Ontario and Canada is under siege and a challenge, and you see a lot of our peers closing down," he said. "It's a very competitive environment that we're in."

Leamington calls itself "the tomato capital of Canada," with its largest vegetable crop being greenhouse tomatoes.