Essex Topcrop receives $500k from province for $5.4M growth project

When Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited the region to host an installment of Ford Fest on Friday, August 11, he teased there would be billions of dollars of investments coming to the area. On Friday morning, Essex MPP Anthony Leardi and Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie were pleased to announce one of those investments would support Essex Topcrop Sales Limited.

The local, family-owned and operated business – which is celebrating 60-years of producing wild bird and specialty pet food that supplies top retailers, specialty wild bird stores, and specialty wild bird and pet distributors – will receive $500,000 through the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund.

This funding is around nine-percent of the project cost of Topcrop’s planned $5.4M

President and CEO Craig Brummell said the growth and expansion project will not only maintain its current roster of 25 employees and bring on an additional seven workers with salaries higher than the area’s median, it will also allow Top Crop to expand production, launch new specialty products, enter new export markets, and compete in the US-dominated wild bird and specialty food industry.

In addition, the funding will help the business expand its warehouse, purchase needed equipment and machinery including an automated packaging machine, palatalizers, and a new conveyor line, and racking for the warehouse.

“Ontario – and Essex County in particular – is a great place to do business. We are proud of our work, we are proud of our employees, we are proud of doing business here at home,” Brummell said.

“This sector is a driving force of the economy,” Dowie said as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade of Ontario, Vic Fedeli. “There are a lot of players in this sector and we know we are the best of the bunch. We are looking forward to having Essex Topcrop products on shelves across the world.”

Dowie noted he loves this “story of a local business that makes it big and is a tremendous success with the products on the shelves.

“Here in Ontario – and especially in Windsor-Essex County – this sector is a driving force of the economy; great people making great things.”

This will help ensure owners of pets in the area can buy local, for which Dowie is proud.

He urged those at Topcrop to know that “your growth is Ontario’s growth, and your success is Ontario’s success.”

“This is more good news for the Riding of Essex,” Leardi added. “As we all know, our area is a great place to live, work, and do business. We have seen many investments in this region. I know that working, living, and doing business in Essex County is a great place to succeed and Premier Doug Ford knows this, too. Under Doug Ford, we are unlocking Ontario’s economic potential.”
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By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, ESSEX FREE PRESS