Petra Cooper, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company -
The recognition that this provides will help put Fifth Town on the map as a green dairy.
One of the innovative things about our project is not just the fact that we used green technologies, it's how we integrated them. We have solar, wind, and geothermal as our energy sources for example, and they're integrated with our processing side as well. They're not just heating and cooling the building.
It's also unique in terms of the building materials that were used which were largely recycled materials, or recyclable materials, and also our wastewater and wash-water disposal system. So that's very unique as well. I don't think any other dairies have that.
Not only is this environmentally friendly, but we also believe strongly that it makes for a better cheese.
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario -
I am distinctly honoured to present the winner of the Premier's Award for 2008.
Petra Cooper, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. -
Whoo-hoo! It's fantastic! It's a wonderful surprise.What's exciting about it is that it recognizes that investing in green technology is important, it's the way of the future, and that business people along with consumers who are encouraged to do their little bit on a daily basis, that business people have to do their bit as well so that they can contribute to the green transformation
Leona Dombrowsky, Minister, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs -
Hillside Gardens Ltd. is a family farm that has supplied quality produce to consumers for more than four decades. Their latest innovation is helping to build trust in food safety and traceability by building the ‘gate to plate' connection.
Ron Gleason, Hillside Gardens Ltd. -
We're not just producing a product, we're producing food. 2:35 And I think it's very important to think that way. So I sell food. And consumers want to have confidence. The fact is whether it's the end-user, whether it's a wholesaler, everybody wants to know that they're buying into something that they could attach their name to, or in the case of an end-user, that they could serve the family with confidence.